Sweet Creature
by amomamo
Summary: Being raised by her Muggle mother, Liliana Taylor never imagined that she could have been a witch. After a visit from the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Liliana is sent into a world she never knew existed and learns more about herself than she ever knew, including more about the father she never knew.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! Welcome to my first FF that I have posted on here. This story follows the events that happen throughout the Harry Potter series and it is a Draco x OC story and is partly AU. The first few chapters that focus on first and second year are a bit shorter but they pick up in length once it gets to third year, where the main focus point of the story starts.**

 **I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think!**

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For an eleven-year-old, having an old man with a long, white beard show up at their house on the day of their eleventh birthday and telling them that they are a witch is not something that is to be expected, but that was what happened to me. The man, Professor Albus Dumbledore, as he introduced himself, explained that he personally came to our house to deliver my acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and explain everything about me being a witch. Of course, both my mother and I were shocked, but it seemed to shed some light in explaining things that had happened in the past surrounding myself that we simply couldn't find a logical explanation for. While it was exciting to learn all about Hogwarts and how I would get to go there and study magic, the thought of leaving my mum alone broke my heart. It was always just the two of us, I never knew my dad and mum never talked about him, but I knew that he was alive and that the relationship was a quick little fling that ended as soon as my dad found out that mum was pregnant, all things my nan had told me through the years when I realized that she would tell me things about him after one too many glasses of brandy. The relationship between me and my mum was so strong, both of us being each other's best friend, and we were so similar in everything but our looks. The only other bit about my father that I knew is that jet black hair was a very strong gene in his family line and was one that was passed on to me, making me look almost nothing like my mother who had honey blonde hair, which always seemed to draw attention to us in the shops.

"Are you sure you've got everything? Uniform? Books? Wand?" Mum fussed over me, straightening out my jumper. Her eyebrows were pulled together and I could tell she was trying her hardest to put on a brave face for me, despite it being the first time the two of us would be separated for longer than a night or two.

"Yes, mum. Please stop worrying. If there is anything I've forgotten you can just owl it to me." I assured her. The train's whistle sounded, signalling that it was going to leave soon and that everyone should be on board. Mum and I froze and looked at each other with wide eyes before she pulled me in for a tight hug. As much as I wanted to be brave and pretend like I wouldn't need my mum around all the time, in reality, I was scared to be away from her.

"I love you. Have fun, make lots of new mates, do well in school, and don't forget to write me."

"I love you too. I promise I will write to you as soon as I am in my room and settled." I pulled back and see that she had tears in her eyes but was still holding them back as best she could. I took a couple of steps backwards, giving her one last wave before boarding the train and looking for an empty compartment.

I came across two boys sitting in a compartment with a whole bunch of sweets around them and politely knock on the side of the door to make my presence known. Both boys looked over at me and the one with black hair and broken glasses smiled slightly. His clothes seemed miles too big for him and he looked much too small, almost like he barely ate anything at all. His hair was shaggy and uneven, looking like it was cut at home by his parents or even himself and that it hadn't been cut in a while judging by the bits of fringe that hung just below his eyebrows.

"Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else seems to be really full." I asked very politely.

"Of course." The same boy who smiled at me nodded at the empty bench in front of him. "I'm Harry Potter and this is Ron Weasley." The other boy, Ron, gave me a small smile as well and nodded his head. He was bigger than Harry and looked much more put together. His clothes still didn't look brand new, but rather like they were made by someone, just like the jumpers my nan used to make me every winter. His hair was bright orange and much more even than Harry's and he had a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and a smudge of dirt on the side of his nose that I didn't think he knew was there.

"Liliana Taylor." I smiled. "But most people call me Ana."

Just then, a girl with massively bushy hair burst in, asking about a missing toad right as Ron was about to show us a spell his brother gave him to turn his rat yellow. She came off right away as a know-it-all and proved this by performing a spell to fix Harry's glasses just to show that she knew how to do magic. I recognized the spell as one that I had read in on of the books I bought in Diagon Alley to help me learn more about magic. She seemed very pleased with herself that she managed to do the spell correctly, and it was then I realized that she was already wearing her school uniform while the rest of us were still in regular clothes.

"You're Harry Potter!" She yelled, making me jump and very confused.

"How did you know that?" I asked her. "You've never met him before."

"He's Harry Potter, the boy who lived." She explained like I was meant to know what she was talking about. She seemed to realize that I still didn't know what she was talking about and her gaze shifted from one of judgement to wonder. "Are your parents magical?"

"No. My mum is a muggle and I don't know my dad, but I'm assuming that he isn't because I think my mum would have said something if he was to explain why I'm a witch." The girls face seemed to light up at my confession.

"I'm muggle-born too, but I read about the wizarding world as much as I could before I came here, and Harry is famous for defeating a dark wizard when he was just a baby." She straightened out her robes before continuing. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. And you are?"

"Ro Weasley." Ron answered first, his mouth full of sweets.

"Liliana Taylor."

"Pleasure." Hermione stood up abruptly and left, telling us that we should get dressed and pointing out the dirt on Ron's nose.

We were greeted by a giant man once we got off the train and were lead to boats waiting for us. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I all ended up in the same boat, each of us mesmerized by the beauty and size of the castle as we approached. Hermione was listing off so many different facts about everything to do with the school that my head felt like it was spinning trying to process it all. A very stern looking teacher met us in front of the dining hall and went over the process that was about to happen. I had done a bit of research about the school and the four houses that we could be sorted into and felt the nerves begin to flutter in my stomach. A very blond and snobby kid butt into mine, Ron, and Harry's area, pulling me from my thoughts about being sorted and tried to convince Harry that he was better than Ron and that he should be friends with him instead, but Harry turned him down and the boy seemed stunned.

I couldn't keep my eyes off the boy who was flanked by two much bigger boys, though the other two didn't seem too bright given the way they were both looking off into space and not at all paying attention to anything. The blond boy, Draco Malfoy, had his eyes narrowed at Harry and Ron and the expression seemed to make his pointy face even more pointy. It was very obvious that he came from a very wealthy family based off the way he seemed to keep his nose pointed in the air and his appearance was very well kept.

I hadn't meant to stare at him for so long, but when his attention quickly shifted towards me, I was too embarrassed to look away. "And who are you?" He asked, look me up and down as if the judge whether or not I would be worthy to be around him.

"Lilianna Taylor." My voice was nearly a whisper and I didn't sound anything like my normal self.

Before Draco got the chance to respond, Professor McGonagall returned and cleared her throat, gathering our attention before leading us through the now opened doors behind her. The great hall was mesmerizing and beautiful. Each of us looked around the room in awe of the décor and sheer beauty of the place. McGonagall started calling students to be sorted into their houses, going alphabetically by last name. Ron told Harry and I a bit about each house when a person was sorted into it, but the one that caught my attention most was Slytherin. While I had learnt a bit about the houses on my own time, Ron came from a large wizarding family and seemed to know more about them than what I could read from a book.

"They're all about being the best and nobility. I don't think that anyone less than a half-blood has been sorted into Slytherin. It's almost always exclusively purebloods who have been in the house from generation to generation. Not a witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin." Ron whispered.

Ron and I watched as Harry was sorted, the process seeming to take much longer than it did for everyone else and clapped for him when he was put into Gryffindor. The table was cheering loudly for him as he made his way towards it and it became apparent that Harry really was like some sort of celebrity.

"Taylor, Liliana." McGonagall called my name and I took a deep breath before walking up the stairs. I sat on the stool and she placed the sorting hat on my head.

"Interesting, very interesting. You're a puzzling one indeed." The sorting hats seemed to mull over his options and I prepared to be put into Hufflepuff, the house that Ron described as alright but not a very notable house. "You have a tricky mind, but it better be… Slytherin!"

My breath caught in my throat as I heard a polite round of applause coming from my new house. I walked towards the table with a helpless glance at Ron and Harry before I took my seat next to a girl with long, blonde hair and a very pretty face.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass." She introduced herself right away." You're Liliana? That's a nice name. How come I've never met you before? I know everyone else who is sorted into this house, but not you. Are you a half-blood? Daddy doesn't really like to associate with them, but I'm sure you're still fine."

I was taken back by her abruptness and it took me a moment to regain myself before I could answer her. "I… I don't think I am. My mum is a muggle and I don't know my dad but I think he was a muggle too." I said quietly, unsure of how to answer the question with Daphne's gaze so strong.

"Oh." She wrinkled her nose and gave me a hard look. "I didn't know they were letting possible mudbloods into the house now. Let's just pretend that you're a half-blood and your father is from America which is why no one knows the name and that he died a long time ago and that your mum is also a witch. You'll get along much better that way." She spoke very quietly so no one could hear us unless they really tried.

"Alright." I nodded shyly.

"Perfect. Let me introduce you to my friends."

Daphne pointed out each of her friends, who either gave a nod or smile in return. She seemed to know nearly all of the first years around us and I knew that I was going to be the outsider. I listened to all of their conversations as the rest of the kids were sorted into their houses until Professor Dumbledore stepped forward and made his speech before all of the food appeared on the tables and we were allowed to dig in.

"Daphne," I said quietly, very aware that Pansy Parkinson, one of Daphne's very good and very rich friends was sitting on the other side of me. "I don't really know much about… Well, anything to do with the wizarding world really."

Daphne seemed to understand where I was going and put her hand on my arm. "Don't worry, I'll teach you everything you need to know." I smiled at her and thanked her, the feeling of relief washing over me. "I guess I should start by properly introducing you to everyone in a way that makes more sense."

Daphne began to quietly tell me how each one of her friends came from a very long line of Pureblood witches and wizards and how each family was notable in some way. It seemed that even within their group, there was a hierarchy of who was better than who, and notably, at the top was Draco.

"Draco's father has great influence over the Ministry of Magic because he is so wealthy, so Draco always seems to know what is what when it comes to pretty much everything. He can put on a bit of a snobby act, but he really is very kind and he's a great friend once you get to know him."

I glanced over at Draco who was rolling his eyes at something Goyle said and found it hard to believe that there was anything other than a snooty kid to him. The way he acted before we entered the Great Hall and the way he was still looking around the room as though he wasn't impressed at all made me not so keen to get to know him more than just a housemate. Daphne was quickly distracted by the food in front of her and I was left looking around the room once again, my gaze darting over each of the house tables until I met eyes with Harry. Him and Ron were both looking at me and seemed to look disappointed that I was sat with Slytherin and not with them and they didn't keep eye contact for long before quickly looking down at their food.

Once dinner was finished, we were lead down to the dungeons where our common room was by one of the prefects and shown to our rooms. I was happy that I was put with Daphne, as well as Pansy and Millicent Bulstrode, another one of Daphne's friends. I stayed up with the three of them for a few more hours, learning about all of the gossip that was already being spread despite it not even being a day at Hogwarts and waited until they were all asleep before writing my mum a letter, telling her all about the sorting and arriving at Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

It took a few weeks for the elite pureblood friend group to fully trust and accept me, most of them hesitant about my bloodline, but once that was old news I was welcomed into their group. Daphne was still the only one who knew the truth about me and she continued to secretly teach me everything about the ideas of blood purity and any wizarding terms that I should've known anytime we had time to ourselves, helping me to fit into the façade we created. The blonde-haired girl had easily become my best friend, the two of us almost always found together, but the one person who I was surprised the most about was Draco.

Once his arrogant front wore off with a bit of time, I found myself becoming closer to Draco than I thought I would. I could tell that he was the most weary about me, but soon enough he and I had our own little inside jokes about Pansy whining about everything and constantly throwing hissy fits, and how Crabbe and Goyle could probably stuff an entire pie into each of their mouths and have no trouble eating it. Pansy, who everyone knew fancied Draco, was very jealous of our friendship and loved to make that known at any chance she could, so long as Draco wasn't around to hear her pouting.

As I grew closer with my Slytherin friends, I found it much harder to keep up with Harry and Ron, considering the dislike my housemates had for the two of them, and even harder was Hermione. Despite me possibly being a fellow muggle-born, I had to pretend as though she was beneath me and that even the thought of talking to her disgusted me. I managed to find the odd time where the two of us could study together in the library and discuss what it felt like to grow up being raised as a muggle and then to suddenly be thrown into the wizarding world. Hermione had her own thoughts about my blood and she reckoned that there had to be some magic somewhere that would have being the linking factor as to why I was put in Slytherin, but she couldn't think of anything further than that.

"Ana!"

"Harry!" I gasped, placing my hand over my racing heart. I had been sitting at one of the benches in the courtyard, enjoying the sunny October weather and the little moment of aloneness that I was having while my friends were all down by the lake. "You scared me half to death."

"Sorry, I just didn't think I would see you here. We saw Malfoy and his friends down by the lake and figured you would be with them." Harry took a seat across from me on the bench and nervously rubbed his hands together. "Have you seen Hermione by any chance?"

"No, why? What happened to her?"

"Ron said something not so nice about her when we were leaving professor Flitwick's class and she overheard. She stormed past us and I think she was crying and we haven't seen her since." Harry glanced at Ron who had taken a seat next to him. Ron looked very guilty and embarrassed, but I felt no pity for the boy. Ever since the first day, Ron had made it clear that he wasn't a fan of Hermione and that he thought she was annoying.

"I didn't mean for her to hear it, it just sort of slipped out." Ron tried to defend himself. His face had gone bright red and nearly matched the messy mass of hair on his head.

"You idiot. I may not have known you for very long but I know that you have a big mouth Ron and you really need to work on controlling it. One day you're going to get yourself in a lot of trouble and you better not expect me to have your back because I will let you pay the consequences." I hissed at him.

"Well now I can see why you were sorted into Slytherin." Ron muttered, earning a shove from Harry and a glare from me.

"It's a wonder to me how you were sorted into Gryffindor when you are so bloody cowardly and pathetic sometimes."

I stood up abruptly and left the two boys at the table, walking straight towards the closest girl's bathroom to collect my thoughts. I rarely ever got cross with people, but something about Ron just did my head in sometimes. His comment about me being in Slytherin really just bothered me and I didn't really know why, maybe it was because I could see how truly cruel my fellow house-mates could be and I liked to think that I didn't sink to that level, or maybe it was because I was scared that I was exactly like them and I didn't want to be.

The faint sound of crying welcomed me as I walked into the bathroom. Whoever was crying tried to make her cries quieter when she heard the door shut, but I was able to follow the sound until I reached a stall.

"Hello?" I called out quietly, standing back a bit from the door. "Are you alright?"

"Liliana? Is that you?" Hermione's broken voice asked back.

"Yes, it's me. Are you alright, Hermione?"

The door opened up and Hermione gave me a watery smile. "I'm fine."

"I heard that Ron was rude to you. I let him have it for it. What exactly did he say?" I grabbed her arm and gently pulled her out of the stall.

"He said that it's no wonder that I have any friends because I'm such a know-it-all and a nightmare." She wiped her eyes and sniffled. It was clear that Ron and Harry really hadn't bothered to spend much time with Hermione, because I had spent enough time with her to know that she really was a good person and someone I was happy to call my friend. "I thought that Ron and Harry were my friends, but I guess I was wrong."

"Well, I like you." I said confidently, giving her a big smile. "They're going to realize what idiots they were and be begging you to forgive them, trust me. Why is it such a bad thing that you're smart?"

Hermione just shook her head and laughed, giving me her first genuine smile. We sat in the bathroom and just talked for what seemed like ages, neither of us caring to keep track of the time at all. One of Hermione's house-mates came in to check on her and told her that dinner was starting soon but didn't linger due to the fact that I was there. It wasn't until we heard the door bang open and saw a massive troll walk in and focus in on us that we realized that we had missed something very important. We tried to hide in the stalls, as if he never saw us, but the wooden frames came crashing down as he knocked them over.

"Hermione, Ana! Move!" I heard Harry yell. I quickly got up and ran with Hermione under the sinks but that proved to not work as a hide out as well when the troll swung his club again and broke two of the sinks.

We were helpless as Harry was grabbed by the troll and held upside down, leaving Ron as the only one with a wand in his hand, both Hermione's and mine lost under the debris from the stalls. Hermione coached Ron on the wrist movements for a 'wingardium leviosa' and I held my breath as he recites it, hoping that it worked for Harry's sake. With the miracle of Ron actually being able to cast the spell properly, we were left with an even bigger obstacle to overcome, facing the professors. Hermione quickly came up with an excuse that she thought she could take on the troll by herself and I tried to convince her that she couldn't which is why we were both there.

"Well then, Professor Snape, if you would take miss Taylor back to the Slytherin Common Room. I think everyone needs to be off to bed after this, excitement." Professor McGonagall motioned for all of us to leave the bathroom.

I followed Snape through the castle towards the dungeons, noting his slight limp as he walked. We were completely silent as we walked, up until we reached the portrait. "I don't know the real reason you were so foolish and I don't care to know, but I will not have you disgracing this house's reputation."

"Yes professor. I'm sorry." I hung my head.

"Get in." He said the password and I felt his eyes on me as I entered.

"Where were you?" Daphne asked, scaring me from her spot on one of the chairs. "I couldn't find you before dinner and then no one knew where you were during dinner either."

"I… Don't worry about it." I walked past her quickly, going straight up to the rooms and right into bed to avoid any further conversation. As close as I was to Daphne, I didn't know how to explain what had just happened without having fully processed the whole thing myself.

Unluckily for me, Pansy and Millicent were already in the room when I walked in and both of them immediately tried too question me as well as to where I had been during dinner. I quickly made up the excuse that I was in the Hospital Wing with Madame Pomfrey because I was feeling ill, knowing that Pansy wouldn't accept me just brushing her off.


	3. Chapter 3

After the big show with the troll at Halloween, there was a noticeable shift between Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them seemed to become great friends and I couldn't help but get jealous. I still maintained my friendship with each of them, Hermione and me being the closest, but I couldn't help the feeling of jealously I got whenever I saw them together. It took Daphne a few weeks of begging to finally get the truth out of me about what really happened on Halloween, and once I did tell her, I made her swear that she wouldn't tell anyone. She was a little shocked to find out about my friendship with the three Gryffindors, but she kept most of her comments to herself about how she really felt about it.

As the days grew shorter and colder and the countdown towards the Christmas holiday grew closer, it was obvious that most students stopped caring so much about their school work and more about what they would do once they got to go home for a couple of weeks. When the day had finally come for all the students who would be returning home for the break to board the Hogwarts Express, I found myself sat in a compartment with my fellow Slytherins, something that was much different than the first time I was on the train.

"Mother and father will have the whole house decorated beautifully, of course, and I'm sure Astoria will be excited to see me." Daphne rambled on, repeating the same things she had been saying for weeks.

The topic of what each of us would be doing during the break carried on for majority of the train ride, making the time pass by rather quickly. I would miss seeing my new friends for the time that I was back home, but I was extremely excited to see my mum again. As the train pulled into the station, each of us were anxious to get out of our compartment and onto the platform where we would be reunited with out families.

Just as I was walking off the train behind Theodore Nott, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me back slightly. I looked over my shoulder and found Draco giving me a small smile, looking slightly nervous about something.

"Draco? Are you alright?" I asked, turning fully to look at him properly.

Draco nodded his head. "I just wanted to say… Happy Christmas."

I smiled at him widely and he couldn't seem to help but smile back. "Happy Christmas, Draco. I'll see you back here soon."

Draco nodded once more before turning and walking off. I watched as he weaved his way through the crowd.

"Earth to Ana!" I jumped at the sound of Daphne shouting my name and turned quickly to find my friend standing behind me with a massive smile. "I've been saying your name for the past thirty seconds repeatedly."

"Sorry, I must have been day dreaming." I apologized quickly.

"Well, I'm off to find my parents. Happy Christmas, Ana! I hope you and your mum have a fun time and you need to promise to tell me all about what it's like to have a muggle Christmas when we get back."

I laughed at my friend's enthusiasm towards learning about how a muggle Christmas might be different than a wizarding one, but nodded my head anyways. "Of course. Happy Christmas, Daphne."

We parted with a quick hug and I quickly found my way towards my mum who was standing off to the side, watching me as I practically ran towards her. She gave me a massive hug before we made our way back to the regular muggle side of King's Cross Station.

"Are you excited to be home?" Mum asked as she drove us away from King's Cross back to our house.

"Yes. I love Hogwarts, but I also miss home." I answered, looking out the window at the muggle world I left behind only a few months ago.

"I'm excited to hear everything that you have learnt! I also can't wait to meet your new friend."

Right before Christmas holidays, Hermione and I realized that we lived fairly close to each other and right away wrote to our parents to set up a meeting so that we could see each other over the break. I was excited that I would be able to see at least one of my new friends over the break, and I knew mum was also excited to meet her, as well as Hermione's parents.

"Are the two of you in the same house?"

"No. Hermione is in Gryffindor. I have a few classes with her though."

"Oh, well it's good that the two of you are still friends. Now, tell me everything about how your first year is going so far."

The house was completely decorated for Christmas, all set up with a tree and everything, when we got back home, and I couldn't help but get very excited. We spent the first few days just doing our usual Christmas traditions of watching films and baking lots of goodies that we gave to the neighbours and the rest of our family. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were filled with family and lots of presents and questions about my new school. Mum decided it would be best if we didn't tell my aunts and uncles and cousins that I was a witch, so she made up a story about me going to a new boarding school that I found pretty easy to follow along with, only have to change a few things in my stories to make them sound like I went to a muggle school.

"Why do all of your friends have funny names?" My cousin Mary asked me at Christmas dinner after I told a story about Pansy and Draco pulling a prank on Goyle that involved him slipping on some slime and landing face first in front of Professor Snape.

"Because they're all very rich and have family names." I answered honestly.

Mary had turned her nose up at my explanation but seemed to buy it. She quickly started telling me all of the presents she got for Christmas from her parents and completely ignored anything else I had to say. I didn't mind her taking over the conversation, I just sat quietly and wondered what my Slytherin friends would be doing at the same time and how different their Christmases must be.

The time for Hermione's family to come over for dinner arrived after what felt like ages. Her parents were very nice, both dentists, but not boring dentists like I had. Me and mum worked really hard making a pie for dessert and Mr. Granger told me right away that he was very impressed with my baking skills.

"What are Harry and Ron doing over the holiday?" I asked Hermione as we sat in my room while our parents talked downstairs while the dinner was still cooking.

"You haven't heard from them?" She seemed surprised that they hadn't written to me, but I didn't really know why. None of my Slytherin friends had written to me, but that was because we found it pointless since we weren't apart for all that long.

"No. I haven't heard from anyone." I told her. "Maybe it's just a Slytherin thing, but it isn't very common to write to each other over Christmas holidays apparently."

"Well, it's supposed to be a secret, but I can't stand to keep it from you. Do you know who Nicholas Flammel is?"

I shook my head and Hermione started telling me everything about Fluffy the three-headed dog, how they thought Professor Snape was trying to steal something, and how Ron and Harry were trying to get information to try and figure out what exactly it was that Fluffy was hiding.

"You don't think it's too dangerous, do you? I mean, Hogwarts is supposed to be a safe place." I said quietly, still shocked at Hermione's news.

"I don't know. I think that Dumbledore wouldn't put something super dangerous, but it's clearly something that is very important."

"Ana! Hermione!" My mum called us from the bottom of the stairs and we both jumped.

"Do you promise to tell me what happens? I want to know everything." I took Hermione's hand and raised an eyebrow at her. Now that I knew this information, I didn't want to be kept out of the dark anymore. Just because I wasn't in the same house as them, that didn't mean that I didn't deserve to be kept in the loop.

"Of course. I'll tell you everything I can when I find out what exactly Fluffy is hiding."

The rest of the Christmas break was just filled with me and my mum spending more time together before I had to go back to school. As much as I enjoyed being home and seeing my mum again, I found myself wishing I was back at Hogwarts much sooner than I thought I would. Hogwarts was the only place where I could really be myself and fit in with everyone around me. I had started to feel very out of place at home, especially with my own family, and I realized that since I had felt what it was like to be in the wizarding world where I belonged, I didn't really enjoy spending time in the muggle world anymore.

As much as mum tried to understand and listen to me talk about my classes and the different things that happened at Hogwarts, it was clear that she didn't really understand in the same way that my wizarding friends did.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione's promise didn't fall short, only the news came a little late. She told me all about the Philosopher's Stone and how they thought that Professor Snape was trying to steal it, but that was all I heard about until after the three of them returned from actually going into the room with Fluffy and trying to stop Snape and there was nothing I could do to help. The trio had spent the whole rest of the year after Christmas break working on their secret little mission, and once I realized that they had left me out, I wasn't so sure if they were really my friends or not.

Returning to Hogwarts after the break had been great. As promised, I told Daphne everything about my muggle holiday and she was completely intrigued. I was equally as fascinated to learn about what Christmas was like for my Pureblood friends. As the excitement from Christmas wore off and everyone settled back into the routine of being in school, I threw myself into my studies and barely noticed how fast the rest of the year was going by.

I fell into a routine of studying for my classes, filling the time that I used to spend with Hermione with Draco and Daphne instead, since Hermione was too busy with Harry and Ron to spend time with me. Draco, who excelled at Potions, always helped me with our homework since that was the one class that I always seemed to struggle with. As I spent more and more time with just him and Daphne, the three of us grew extremely close and their friendship really made me finally feel as though I belonged in Slytherin. For each of our birthdays, we stole cupcakes from the Great Hall and snuck them into the library to our little corner that we would always sit at and celebrated with each other. It started with Daphne, who insisted on us keeping it quiet between the three of us and carried over to both me and Draco and I knew that this would be our little tradition from that moment on.

I grew closer with my other housemates as well, Pansy and Millicent growing on me more and more as the year went on, the same with Theo, but Crabbe and Goyle never seemed to be anything more than acquaintances to me, despite how they usually followed Draco around everywhere he went.

"Can you believe that Potter actually did something like that? He really thinks he's so special. My father says that he got lucky and that if he was him, he would just keep his head down and not draw so much attention." Daphne grumbled as we sat in the Great Hall for the year end feast, the whole room filled with green and silver to congratulate the Slytherin house on winning the House Cup.

"Perfect Potter." Draco mumbled, still annoyed that Harry was getting so much attention.

"Why are you being so quiet, Liliana? You haven't said a word since we sat down." Pansy said very obnoxiously.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say." I shrugged, picking at the food in front of me.

"Are you sad that we all have to go home?" Daphne asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I promise that I'll write to you all the time, all of us will. Maybe you can come visit me at my home and we can go shopping in Diagon Alley with mother! Pansy, you'll join us of course, and maybe you can come too, Draco."

"Ew, no. I don't want to go shopping." Draco cringed. "Besides, I'll be too busy training to join the Slytherin Quidditch team for next year. Father thinks I'll be an excellent Seeker."

"You will be." Pansy nodded excitedly right away.

Daphne and I shared a little laugh at how ridiculous our friend was and how blatantly obvious she was when it came to Draco. I had accidentally let it slip one day in the library about Pansy's crush on Draco, and since then he had been trying his hardest to avoid being alone with her. I found it rather funny how the more Draco avoided Pansy, the more desperate she would be to get his attention.

Our conversation was interrupted by Dumbledore standing and starting his speech and announcing the winner of the House Cup, even though everyone already knew, but he didn't seem to stop there. He started to award points to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all the way up until Gryffindor was tied for first with Slytherin. Angry whispers erupted from our table as we stared at Dumbledore in disbelief. He awarded a final set of points to a fat lump of a kid, Neville, and Gryffindor ended up winning the house cup.

"He can't do that!" I whined, taking off my hat and putting it on the table. "It's not fair that he favours the Gryffindor house and we get punished for it."

"My father always said that he is a crazy old man, and now I believe him." Draco copied my actions and crossed his arms.

I caught Ron's eye and he gave me a triumphant smile which I returned with a glare. It was pretty clear from the look on Ron's face that he didn't view me as any different from the rest of my housemates. Harry and Hermione noticed Ron looking at me and gave me small, sympathetic smiles, but I quickly looked away from the two of them. I knew that the idea of all of us continuing to be friends didn't seem like it would happen, and there wasn't much that could be done about it because of the large divide between the houses. It was almost as if the closer I got to my own housemates, the farther away I had grown from the three Gryffindors.

I felt sad as I packed all of my belongings and walked with my fellow classmates towards the carriages that would take us back to the train to go home. Hogwarts had very quickly become my new home and I found myself not wanting to leave it to go back to my muggle life for the summer. I was still excited to see my mother, but I wished I could still see my friends as well, which I knew I couldn't do because my mum was a muggle. Everyone had promised that we would write to each other over the break, especially Draco and Daphne, but it wouldn't be the same as seeing them in person.

I enjoyed the final hours I had with my friends on the train ride home, listening to Pansy go on and on about how her family were going to one of her houses in France for half of the summer and then another one in Spain for the rest of the time before school started again. Daphne also mentioned her family's plans to do a bit of travelling, but she didn't brag nearly as much as Pansy had, but we all knew the girl was just trying to get Draco's attention.

There was a long time where we all said goodbye to each other once we reached the platform, the girls all hugging goodbye and the boys just nodding their heads. Daphne had taken off as soon as she saw her little sister and Draco and I started to walk farther down the platform together.

"Do you know that woman over there? The one in the muggle clothes? She has been watching us for a while since we got off the train." Draco pointed to where I found my mother standing with a massive smile. She gave me a small wave and I quickly looked away.

"That's my mum." I said quickly, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"Why is she wearing those clothes?" Draco narrowed his eyes at me and glanced back at my mum.

"Oh, she... She just likes how they look. She's a bit odd sometimes." I quickly gathered my things and put on a smile. "I should go. Write to me?"

I didn't wait for a response from Draco before turning and walking towards my mum. "Who's that? Is he your friend?" She asked after she gave me a big hug.

"Yes, that's Draco. Let's go home, mummy. I'm very tired." I tried to rush her out of the station as I spotted Draco and his mother starting to walk towards us.

"I want to meet…"

"Please, mummy? You can meet her another time."

My mum sighed but gave in, helping me with my things as we started to leave the station. I glanced behind us to see Draco giving me an odd look. I felt my heart beating fast in my chest as I thought about what could have happened if our mothers met and mine revealed that she was really a muggle. As close as Draco and I had gotten, knowing how much he seemed to care about blood purity, he would surely stop talking to me and would tell the entire house, making me an outcast and taking away the one place where I really felt like I belonged.


	5. Chapter 5

I didn't think I had ever been happier that summer holiday had finished that when the summer going into second year came to a close. The transition from the wizarding world back to the muggle world was even more shocking and disappointing than it had been at Christmas due to the longer time away from the wizarding world. Not that I didn't have a fun holiday, I did, but I found myself counting down the days until I would be boarding the Hogwarts Express again and going back to the new world I belonged in. The holiday was filled to the brim with boring muggle outings and seeing some of my old muggle friends from before I went to Hogwarts, and was overall very… Muggle. Of course, there were magical bits, owls delivering letters from my friends, most of the letters coming from Daphne and Draco, a few from Pansy, Millicent and Hermione, and unsurprisingly, none from Harry, Ron, or any of my other Slytherin housemates.

I had insisted that me and my mum went to Diagon Alley earlier than when I knew my friends would be going so that we could get all of my books without any worry that we would be seen. I made sure to say a proper goodbye to my mum at home before we left for King's Cross Station and only gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before getting on the train and going to find the carriage where my Slytherin classmates were. All of us were quick to catch up with one another and I felt a sense of a relief knowing that I would be back in the world that I truly belonged in.

Watching the sorting ceremony as a second year wasn't nearly as interesting as it was last year when we were the ones being put into our houses. The feast was incredible, and I didn't realize how much I missed the food at Hogwarts until we dug into the wide array of food in front of us. It was easy to fall back into the routine of classes and I found myself excited at the idea of the school work that would be assigned to us throughout the year.

"God, if there's one thing I didn't miss about Hogwarts, it's Herbology." Draco grumbled as we walked into the greenhouse.

"Oh, come off it, Draco." I sighed. "Could you avoid complaining for one day?"

He glared at me but said nothing. I smirked back at him and he broke eye contact, scowling and pouting as we stood at the long row of tables and waited for the class to start. I didn't realize how much I had missed being around Draco, and Daphne, until I got to be around them again. The three of us had planned to go to our area of the library that night to get started on the work that we had already been assigned.

"Good morning class!" Professor Sprout greeted us with a warm smile.

Goyle tried to take his place beside Draco, practically pushing me out of the way, but I elbowed him in the stomach and glared at him until he moved back to where he was originally.

"Today we are going to re-pot Mandrakes. Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?"

"Bet Hermione can." I whispered to Draco right as her hand shot up in the air. He snickered and rolled his eyes at me as she repeated the textbook version of the properties of Mandrake roots word for word. I had only seen Hermione once over the summer and it had been a little awkward since how things ended last year, and we didn't speak much through letters either.

We were told and shown how to safely re-pot the Mandrakes, not without Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor passing out unnecessarily first, before we did it ourselves. Draco, being the genius he was, stuck his finger in the Mandrake's mouth and git bit, causing me and my Slytherin housemates to laugh at his misfortune.

After class, we all made our way towards the Great Hall for lunch and sit at the end of the Slytherin table.

"Did you hear about what happened with Potter and Weasley?" Daphne asked us as she grabbed another sandwich and placed it on her plate.

"It hasn't even been a full day back, what could they have possibly done?" Pansy scoffed, giving Daphne a skeptical look.

Daphne opened her mouth to continue but a massive smile took over instead as an owl came flying in. "Just wait a moment and you'll find out." She nodded towards the Gryffindor table and we all turned and watched as Ron held up a bright red letter.

"Weasley's got himself a Howler!" An Irish Gryffindor boy yelled, getting everyone's attention.

I watched as Ron shakily opened the letter and a booming voice filled the Great Hall. "RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR!"

Daphne gave us a look that told us that is what she was talking about. We all listened as the Howler continued to yell at Ron about his father facing an inquiry at work and then moved to congratulate his little sister on getting into Gryffindor before destroying itself and the Great Hall fell silent. I could see how red Ron's face had gotten from our table and caught Hermione's eye. I could tell she was trying to hold back a laugh and I couldn't help but smile at her and hold back my own little giggle.

"That's what they did." Daphne shrugged triumphantly and opened her book to start reading.

"Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing Harry and Ron on the platform." I recalled.

Pansy slowly nodded her head in agreement and Draco let out a harsh laugh. "Finally, Saint Potter and Weaslebee finally get in trouble for something."

Everyone made sounds of agreement and continued our lunch before heading off to the rest of our classes for the day. We had a break between our last class of the day and dinner, so Daphne, Draco and I took that opportunity to sneak away to the library and attempt to start the homework we had already been assigned.

"So, Draco," Daphne started after just a few minutes of us starting to study. "Did you hear from Pansy much during the break?"

Draco let out a groan and I knew that we wouldn't be getting any more work done. "She wrote to me almost everyday. I thought that her being away on holiday almost all summer would stop that, but she still wrote so much."

"Aww, poor Draco." I cooed, earning a glare from my friend. "I have to say, I'm not very heartbroken that I didn't hear from her much."

"It's because she still fancies Draco."

Another groan came from Draco causing Daphne and I to laugh. We spent a bit more time in the library talking before heading back to the common room to put our books away before heading to dinner. All of our friends were already sat at the table and questioned where we had been, especially Pansy who looked furious that she wasn't invited to go with us when we said we were studying.


	6. Chapter 6

The first few weeks of second year made it very clear that it wouldn't be as easy as first year had been. First year hadn't been a walk in the park, but the work load was already much greater than it had been the previous year and it was a bit of a shock. I enjoyed almost all of my classes, finding everything interesting, but I couldn't stand the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, professor Lockhart. Most of the girls fancied him, but I found him to be annoying and not very good at teaching us anything.

I had been sitting with Hermione and working on the most recent essay Lockhart had assigned about himself when Ron came and sat with us. He had given me a weary look as he sat down, but when I didn't say anything to him he seemed to relax.

"That can't be good." Ron muttered, pulling our attention from the work in front of us and towards where the Slytherin and Gryffindor Quidditch teams were facing off. We walked over to try and figure out what was going on, Hermione and Ron going to stand beside the Gryffindor team while I stood just beside the Slytherin team, and listened as Oliver Wood read out the note from Professor Snape that Marcus Flint had given to him.

"You've got a new Seeker? Who?"

The Slytherin team parted and Draco stepped forward, a smug smirk on his face when he saw the shock from the whole Gryffindor team. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing that their reactions would give Draco even more of an inflated ego than he already had. Draco had been bragging about how he was part of the Slytherin team and how his father had bought all of them new brooms from the moment we got back to Hogwarts. Everyone had stopped caring about it after the third or fourth time he mentioned that he was part of the team, well, everyone but Pansy, so I could tell he was enjoying finally getting a reaction again.

"Malfoy?" Harry laughed.

"That's right, and that's not all that's new this year." Draco shifted his broom to show off the new equipment that the team had been given. All of the Gryffindor team had gasped and Ron's mouth fell open. "You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best."

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent." Hermione shot at Draco, a smug look on her face. Even though she was right, I knew she should have just kept her mouth shut. Draco didn't like it when people challenged him in anyway, and Hermione doing it in front of the elder Slytherins would just make Draco more upset.

His eyes seemed to turn a dark grey as he took a step towards Hermione and scowled at her. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

After hearing the word constantly said with ease in the Slytherin common room, I hardly even blinked at the use of the slur. The word used to make me cringe every time I heard it because there was still a possibility that I could still be a Muggle-born, but I had grown used to it over time. Hermione, on the other hand, clearly wasn't used to hearing it and Her face fell right away. She looked at me right away as if waiting for me to come to her rescue, but there was nothing I could do in the presence of my Housemates. The word meant nothing to me anyway, so I figured that Hermione would just be able to brush it off as well.

Ron, stupidly trying to come to Hermione's rescue for no reason, attempted to hex Draco with a spell that would make him vomit slugs, but his spell backfired, and he hit himself. He immediately dropped to the ground and started to vomit up slugs, causing the Slytherin team to laugh and even earning a little chuckle from me despite my disgust. Harry and Hermione quickly helped Ron up and practically carried him away, the rest of the Gryffindor team heading back to the castle right after them.

"What were you doing with them?" Draco turned to me, giving me an odd look. I could tell he wasn't happy that I spent any time with the Gryffindors at all, but it really wasn't his place to tell me what to do.

"Studying." I answered simply. "Is that a problem?" I challenged him, raising an eyebrow.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "No, I just don't understand why you would choose to waste your time with a Mudblood and a Weasley."

"I can only stand so much time around Pansy, and she has been carrying on all afternoon about Lockhart." I shifted my books in my arms and glanced at the rest of the Slytherin team that was continuing on towards the Quidditch field. "You're getting left behind. I'll see you at dinner."

With that, I turned and made my way back towards the castle. I walked directly towards the dungeons to the Common Room where I found Daphne and Pansy sitting on one of the couches. I sat with my friends and listened as Pansy was still going on about how handsome she thought Lockhart was all the way until it was almost dinner time. Draco came in with the rest of the Slytherin team once their practice was finished and Pansy couldn't stop giggling as he walked by, not at all being subtle.

"How was practice, Draco?" I asked him once we made our way to the Great Hall for dinner.

Draco looked tired, but he put on a smug grin and sat up a little straighter. "It was fine. Flint said that I was an excellent flier, maybe even better than the last Seeker they had."

Daphne and I shared a look, neither of us really believing that Draco was saying the full truth, but Pansy seemed to be hanging on to every word that came out of Draco's mouth. He went into great detail about the practice and how challenging it was supposed to be, but how he had found it quite easy given his natural talent.

"Potter is missing." Daphne interrupted Draco's ongoing monologue and pointed towards the Gryffindor table.

Sure enough, Harry was missing from his usual spot between Ron and Hermione, both of which looked concerned.

"I wonder where he could be that Ron and Hermione look confused." I mused.

"Probably off doing something that he thinks will earn him another fifty points from Dumbledore."

No one said anything else about the subject and we all finished our meal. As we were making our way through the corridors back to the dungeons, everyone seemed to stop suddenly and gather at a corner.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to push my ways towards the front of the crowd with Draco and Daphne right behind me. The sight in front of me made me stop in my tracks and let out a loud gasp.

On the wall in front of us was the words, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware' written in what looked like blood. Hanging from her tail completely still was Mrs. Norris, Filches cat, almost as if she was dead. I spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione stood closest to the wall and I couldn't help but wonder why they were there before all of us.

"Enemies of the heir beware?" Draco read out the line from the wall, quickly turning and glaring at Hermione. "You'll be next, Mudbloods."

I couldn't help but glance at Daphne who gave me a weary look. The sound of Dumbledore coming towards us caused all of us to separate, allowing him and Professor McGonagall through to see the scene in front of us.

"Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately." Dumbledore announced, causing everyone to turn and start to walk away. "Everyone except you three." His additional statement made us all look back and see him pointing at the three Gryffindors that had been there from the beginning.

All of the Slytherin students were speaking quietly amongst themselves as we made our way back to the Common Room. I quickly pulled Daphne into our dormitory when I saw Pansy and Millicent take a seat in the corner of the main area along with the boys.

"What did Draco mean when he said Mudbloods would be next?" I asked my blonde friend the second we were sat on her bed. "What's the Chamber of Secrets?"

Daphne sighed. "Years ago, there was a time in the school where kids were getting petrified by something, and one girl ended up dying. No one knew what was causing the attacks, but I'm assuming that it had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets. All of the kids who were attacked were Mudbloods."

"So that means…"

"You're going to be fine, Ana. You're in Slytherin, you won't get hurt." Daphne assured me. Despite my friend's efforts to make me feel safe, I was still worried that I would be the next one to get attacked and my secret would be outed to all of my friends. "Come on, let's go back before they suspect something."

I followed Daphne back to the main area and sat with our friends, trying my best to listen to what they were talking about but found it hard to focus on anything other than my fears.


	7. Chapter 7

Following the day of the attack, Slytherin and Gryffindor had Transfiguration together and the focus would be on turning animals into water goblets. We had learnt about the background of the spell the previous class, but it was time for us to put it into practice. After a failed attempt from Ron and his broken wand caused a round of laughter from all of the students, mostly the Slytherins, Hermione's hand shot up in the air.

"Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets." The entire class fell silent and all looked towards McGonagall hopefully.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, the professor dove into the story about the founders of Hogwarts. I already knew from hearing from Daphne that Salazar Slytherin didn't like anyone who had anything to do with Muggles, but I didn't realize that meant he just wanted Purebloods in the school. It made me even more confused as to why I was put into Slytherin, but I had to move on from that and focus on McGonagall explaining about the rumoured hidden chamber that Slytherin had built.

Despite McGonagall's claim that no chamber had been found, it was clear that she herself didn't believe that the chamber didn't exist. She almost seemed frightened as she told us about the supposed monster that lived within the chamber, a monster than only the true heir of Slytherin would be able to open. It was nearly impossible to get the class to focus back to the task in front of us once we had been given the information about the supposed Chamber of Secrets.

"I, for one, hope that the Chamber has been opened again. It would be good to rid the school of all of the Mudbloods." Draco said as we left the classroom once we were dismissed.

"Come off it, Draco." Daphne snapped at him. She had seen my face fall when Draco spoke so harshly. "You don't really believe that this is happening, do you? Who could possibly have opened the Chamber? It would have to be a first year, otherwise it would have been opened ages ago, and I doubt any of them are smart enough to do something like that."

"I don't know who would've opened it, Greengrass." Draco sneered at her. "Maybe one of the older students had to wait until they were told to open in in order to do so."

None of us could deny that that was a possibility. We fell silent as we pushed past Harry, Ron and Hermione, none of us even sparing a glance back at them. The rest of the week was filled with all sorts of rumours flying around the school about the Chamber of Secrets and who could be the so-called heir of Slytherin. The fear of an attack coming from whatever it was that may have been in the chamber was taken over by the excitement of the first Quidditch match of the season being that weekend. The match was between Slytherin and Gryffindor, so tensions were high as both houses wanted the win.

I was sat between Daphne and Nott in the stands as we watched the two teams race around the pitch. Slytherin got the lead early on and we were sure that we would win the game, we just needed Draco to catch the snitch before Harry. I looked around at the stands that were a bit higher up than the rest, the ones reserved for staff, and noticed a man I had never seen before sat with Professor Snape.

"Daphne," I nudged my friend to get her attention. "Who is that sat with Snape?"

Daphne followed my gaze towards the two men before turning back to me. "That's Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy. I suppose he came to watch Draco play."

"I wouldn't get used to seeing him." Theo joined in to our conversation. "I'm surprised he's here at all. Granted, he's probably making sure those brooms he bought are being put to good use."

I found the way Theo talked about Draco's father very curious, but I didn't push the subject any further. Theo made it sound like Draco and his father weren't very close and seeing the elder Malfoy supporting his son was something that was rare. I turned my attention back to the game just as Harry narrowly dodge a bludger that was going straight for him. I could see Draco laughing at Harry's expense, causing him to miss that the Snitch was flying right beside him.

Once he saw Harry take off after the small ball, Draco followed quickly, the pain of them diving under the stands to chase the snitch together. They resurfaced for a short period before disappearing once again. It wasn't until Draco came flying out from under the stands and landed hard on the ground that we saw him again. I gasped as he rolled on the ground, gasping for the air that had been knocked out of his lungs. A quick glance towards Draco's father showed him looking down at his son with disappointment before turning towards Snape and disappearing from the crowd. Harry, despite getting hit very hard by a bludger, managed to catch the snitch and win the game for Gryffindor, causing a groan of disappointment and outrage from the entirety of the Slytherin house.

I quickly made my way to the Hospital Wing with Daphne, Pansy, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle all in tow, finding Draco laying on a bed and moaning in pain with a couple people from the Slytherin team standing beside him.

"Draco, are you alright?" I walked right up to the bed and looked at him with concern.

"Draco! You poor thing!" Pansy looked as though she was going to burst into tears at the sight of seeing Draco in a hospital bed. I heard Daphne scoff loudly and caught Theo trying to hide his laughter.

Draco just continued to moan in pain, earning himself a scolding from Madame Pomfrey who told him he could go, and soaked in all the attention he was getting from everyone. While Pansy was the most dramatic out of all of us, Draco still loved to get attention and would put on a bit of a show any time he could to get it. When Draco finally let the Hospital Wing, still complaining about the pain he was in, it was well into dinner and we just managed to make it for a bit of food before going back to the Common Room.

No one expected the news that another attack had happened during the night, this time on a first year Gryffindor by the name of Creevey, to be the first thing we heard the following morning. The news had sent everyone into a panic and it was announced that a duelling club would be formed within the next couple of days. It was clear that the teachers were looking for a way to calm the students, but for everyone who had any bit of Muggle blood in them, the fear had already set in that any of us could be next.

The first session of the duelling club had everyone excited at the idea of learning more than just how to perform spells, but how to properly duel another witch or wizard. Lockhart had been the one to form the club and he took it upon himself to take the lead and have an example of what a duel would look like against Professor Snape. Snape knocked Lockhart back with one simple spell and I couldn't help but let out a giggle as the so-called amazing professor was knocked backwards. The two professors decided to bring two students up to duel it out, choosing Harry and Draco.

"Let's see if Potter is really so great at everything he does." Theo whispered quietly, earning a little laugh out of me and Daphne.

Draco got the upper hand on Harry right away, sending him flying backwards. Harry returned with another spell right away, earning the same result that Draco had gotten, the blond Slytherin landing directly in front of us.

"Come on, Draco." I muttered to myself as he got back up and countered right away, ignoring Lockhart's warning to try and disarm his opponent only. A snake shot out of Draco's wand and started towards Harry. Lockhart, being the hero the thought he was, tried to get rid of the snake but only sent it flying up into the air before it landed back in front of Harry.

Harry seemed to focus on the snake and started to make hissing noises at it as it started to move towards a boy in Hufflepuff. "Merlin, Potter's speaking parseltongue." Daphne gasped.

I didn't know what she meant and didn't focus on it, only watching in shock as Harry continued to hiss at the snake and it slowly moved towards the Hufflepuff boy, almost as if he was telling it to attack him. It wasn't until Snape finally got rid of the snake that everyone seemed to be able to move again. Daphne quietly explained what it meant to be a parselmouth and how both Salazar Slytherin and Lord Voldemort had been able to speak the language, which is why it was so shocking that Harry could as well.

"Of course, Potter's a parselmouth." I couldn't tell if Draco was mad or happy that it was revealed that Harry could speak to snakes, but it seemed like a mixture of both. "Freak Potter."

"Maybe it's him who's behind all the attacks." Pansy offered. "Maybe he's playing it off like he's this saint, but really he's secretly the one who's planning all of this and he's the one that opened the Chamber of Secrets."

I couldn't help but scoff at Pansy's idea. "Please, you think that Harry could really do that? You-Know-Who was a parselmouth as well and he killed Harry's parents. I highly doubt he would want anything to do with anything remotely evil or bad."

Pansy seemed offended that I brushed off her idea so quickly and didn't say anything else for the remainder of the evening. As silly as the idea was, it wasn't until we found out the next day that the very same Hufflepuff boy that had been targeted by the snake during duelling club had been the most recent victim of the attacks and it didn't seem so far fetched that maybe it was Harry that was responsible for everything that was happening.


	8. Chapter 8

"You think that Harry is behind the attacks? You can't be serious, Liliana." Hermione scoffed as we sat in the library. It had been a couple of weeks since the attack on the Hufflepuff boy and it had given me more time to think about everything and realize that maybe Pansy wasn't so wrong.

"He's can speak parseltongue, Hermione. You mean to tell me that you know everything Harry does at every moment? That there's no possibility that he could be doing this with you and Ron knowing?" I challenged her, not letting her just drop the subject.

Hermione closed her book quickly. "What about Malfoy? Could he be the one doing this?"

I couldn't help but laugh at Hermione's suggestion. "Oh, please. It's not Draco, Hermione."

"And why don't you think it is? He's made it very clear that he doesn't like Muggle-borns and Salazar Slytherin hated them as well. How do you know _he_ isn't sneaking off and doing it without you lot knowing?"

While I could understand where Hermione was coming from, I already knew that it wasn't Draco. He could talk a big game, but he wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was. "It's just not him, alright?"

"Could it be anyone else in Slytherin?"

"Not anyone that I know of."

Hermione seemed to debate something silently before standing up abruptly. "Come with me."

I was shocked at the sudden outburst from the girl but followed her out of the library anyways. Hermione lead us towards the bathroom on the second floor, and before I could question why we were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, I noticed Harry and Ron sitting in front of a potions set on the floor.

"What's she doing here?" Ron jumped up and pointed towards me.

"She can help us get into the Slytherin Common Room."

"What?" I looked at my Gryffindor friend. "What are you lot doing in here?"

"We're brewing Polyjuice Potion." Hermione ignored Ron and Harry saying her name to try and get her to stop telling me what they were doing. "We are going to turn Ron and Harry into Crabbe and Goyle and try to get any information we can out of Malfoy because we know he would tell the two of them anything."

"And you don't think he would tell me?" I was offended that the Gryffindors in front of me didn't think that I was important enough to Draco for him to tell me things, but really no one ever saw him without the two of them. Even though he wasn't very close with them, they were almost always with him and I could see how they would think that the two boys would be the best way to get information out of Draco. "Also, why didn't you just ask me yourselves if Draco was in on it?"

"Because you're a Slytherin. How do we know you're not lying?" Ron immediately spat out. "For all we know, you could be in on it as well."

Hermione let out a sigh and Harry looked embarrassed. "You think I'm in on it, Weasley?" I questioned the red-headed Gryffindor through grit teeth. "Have you forgotten that my mum is a Muggle? Why would I be attacking Muggle-borns if I was raised by a Muggle?"

Ron's face went bright red and he didn't say anything else. "Liliana, we just want to find out what's going on."

Hermione's voice pulled me away from glaring at Ron and I turned towards her. "And why can't you just believe me when I say Draco has nothing to do with it?" The three of them were silent. "If I help you, will you let it go and stop suspecting that Draco is behind this?"

"Yes." Hermione answered right away.

"Fine. I'll help you."

Ron didn't seem very happy with the idea, but Harry and Hermione looked relieved. Hermione explained how the potion would be done by Christmas, so she just needed to me to let them know when the best time to act was. I quickly left the group after Hermione promised to keep me updated on the progress of everything.

The attacks seemed to quiet down after the Hufflepuff boy and nothing new happened as Christmas got closer. Even though there weren't any new attacks, that didn't mean that any tension had lessened throughout the castle. Even the upcoming Christmas break didn't bring any sense of relief.

"Are you planning on going home for Christmas, Draco?" I asked my friend as we sat in our corner of the library. Daphne had fallen ill and was stuck in the Hospital Wing for the day, so it was just the two of us left to study together.

"No." Draco replied shortly. "Mother and Father are planning on going on holiday and I would rather not go with them. Father wasn't very pleased with what happened at the Quidditch match against Gryffindor, and I'd rather not hear him lecture me about it for two weeks straight."

I was taken back by Draco's answer. He never spoke much about his father unless he was bragging about something that his father did, but never much about their own relationship. "Oh." I replied quietly.

"Are you going home?"

"I… I'm not sure." I realized then that Christmas would be the best time for Hermione to put her plan into action so they could stop questioning Draco and move on. "I think I might be staying here."

I didn't miss the flash of excitement that spread across Draco's face. It disappeared just as fast as I came, but it was definitely there. "I think Crabbe and Goyle are staying too, so if you're there then at least I can escape from them for a little."

"You mean they don't make good studying partners?" I smirked, watching Draco roll his eyes.

"That's not even a funny joke."

The two of us went back to our studying until we had both had enough and made our way back to the Common Room. Once there, I went straight into my dormitory and wrote two letters, one to mum telling her that I would like to stay at Hogwarts for the winter break because I didn't want my friend to be lonely, which wasn't a complete lie, and one to Hermione to tell her that Draco would be at Hogwarts for Christmas, as well as Crabbe and Goyle.

The letter that returned from my mum was one of her saying she was sad that she wouldn't see me for Christmas, but she understood why I wanted to stay. Hermione told me that the potion would be ready by then and that they had their plan ready to go, she just needed me to help them get into the Common Room to speak with Draco. They would wait until just after Christmas to do it, allowing everyone to celebrate the holiday first. It was only me, Millicent, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle left from the Slytherins in our year, so I didn't know who Hermione would be turning into that she wouldn't create any suspicion, but I hoped it would all work out.

As the time approached for the plan to unfold, I waited in the Second Floor bathroom for the three Gryffindors to arrive so they could drink the potion and we could get the whole thing over with.

"Took you long enough." I scoffed as they finally showed up. "Hurry up, I want to get this over with so I can go back to being with my friends."

"Some friends you've got." I heard Ron mutter under his breath.

"I'd watch it, Weasley. I can make sure this fails miserably." I threatened, shutting him up.

Hermione revealed that she somehow managed to get a hold of some of Millicent's hair and I watched as the three of them drank the potions. Harry and Ron transformed into Crabbe and Goyle while Hermione hid herself away in a stall and insisted that we went on without her. I didn't want to have to go at the mission they had created alone with Harry and Ron, but I knew time was ticking away with every minute wasted standing in the bathroom.

I led the boys down to the dungeons and into the Common Room where Draco was already sat. "Where's Millie?" I asked him, taking a seat next to him and leaving the couch opposite us open for Harry and Ron to take. They seemed hesitant to sit down and looked uncomfortable. "Sit down. It's not like you've forgotten how to sit from the time we were in the Great Hall until now."

Harry and Ron quickly sat down and Draco narrowed his eyes at them. "She's in your room, I think. She went straight up there after dinner. I ran into one of the Weasley's on my way down here. They really are an embarrassment to the Wizarding World and a pathetic excuse for a Pureblood family."

Ron, or Crabbe, clenched his fists tightly and noticeably was getting angry, Harry, Goyle, quickly nudged him to try and get him to calm down so they wouldn't blow their cover. Draco carried on about how much he dislikes Dumbledore and how his father thought that Dumbledore was also terrible. I sighed at Harry's outburst when he tried to defend Dumbledore and gave a pathetic excuse for saying that he was far worse than Dumbledore.

"I can't believe that people think he's the heir of Slytherin." Draco scoffed. "Pathetic."

"You must have some idea who it is?" Harry, Goyle, asked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "You know I don't, Goyle. I told you yesterday. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"They're not very bright, Draco. I don't know how you expect them to remember anything." I drawled, shooting a look at the two disguised Gryffindors in front of me.

"Well, when I asked father about it, he wouldn't tell me who opened the Chamber last time, only that a Mudblood died because of it. Maybe it'll happen again, I'm just hoping that it will be Granger this time."

Harry and Ron stood up right away and looked as though they were about to fight Draco, but Harry quickly stopped Ron before he could do anything. As they were talking, I started to notice that their hair was changing back into normal and Harry's scar started to come back. The two of them took off running out of the Common Room and Draco called after them. I quickly dismissed it by saying the two of them were extremely thick and probably ate so much that they were going to be sick.

I didn't find out until days later that the reason Hermione hadn't been able to go with us was because the hair she had was from Millicent's cat, not from Millicent herself and she landed herself in the Hospital Wing because of it. Since the three Gryffindors now new that Draco wasn't the one behind the attacks, it was a bit of a relief to know that they wouldn't be trying to blame him for any attacks that would happen in the future.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hermione Granger has been petrified." Pansy announced with a very excited tone as she pranced into the Common Room after the announcement had been made that everyone was to return to their respective Common Rooms at once and leave the Quidditch pitch.

"What?" I sat up right away in the chair I had claimed as mine.

"That's why we all had to come back here. I heard some Ravenclaws talking about it on my way down." She sat on the arm of the chair I was in and smiled at all of us. "Isn't this wonderful? No more nosey Mudblood!"

"I knew it would get her eventually." Draco looked satisfied with the information Pansy had shared. I seemed to be the only Slytherin who was affected by the news, but that was because I was the only Slytherin who knew her and who had Muggle blood in me.

Professor Snape came in and read out a new set of rules that were set in place and warned us that if anyone had any information about the Chamber, they ought to come forward immediately or else the school would be shut down if anything more were to happen. I felt my heart sink at the news. I couldn't imagine having to go back to a completely normal, Muggle life after everything I had learnt in the past couple of years at Hogwarts if the school really did shut down. I hoped that nothing more would happen and that the school would return to normal, even though I knew that was mostly just wishful thinking.

With Hermione not around, I knew that Harry and Ron would continue trying to figure out what was going on in the school, but I wasn't sure how far they would really get. I didn't bother to try and offer to help them, not wanting to get involved any further after the two of them showed that they really didn't trust me very much earlier on when they suspected Draco of being the heir. I had resisted from telling my mum about the attacks that had been happening all year, but after the news about Hermione I knew I had to tell her. She was worried for me and even told me that she thought I should go home to be safe, but I assured her that I didn't need to leave the school. Mum tried to convince me otherwise over the course of a couple of weeks, but eventually gave up when I kept refusing.

The biggest shock of the year came when Draco told us that his father and the other governors of Hogwarts had signed a motion that would remove Dumbledore from the school. That news had spread through the school and caused a panic through all of the Muggle-borns who were afraid that without his protection, the next attack would end up with someone's death. Draco was smug that his father was able to remove Dumbledore, but even some of the Slytherins were a little skeptical about the decision. McGonagall had stepped up and was acting as Headmistress while Dumbledore was away, and as hard as she tried to assure everyone that everything would be alright, she couldn't do what Dumbledore could.

"Ana?" Draco's voice startled me out of my daydream. "What did you get for this question about Wiggentree?" Draco pointed to the empty spot on his parchment and I quickly glanced down at my own work and showed it to him.

As the year was coming to a close, the pressure of exams only added to the tension that was already thick throughout the halls of Hogwarts. Draco, Daphne and I had been going to the library more often to get away from our housemates that found it more interesting to gossip rather than focus on our exams.

The three of us were startled by the announcement that commanded all students to go back to their Common Rooms right away. "Do you think there's been another attack?" Daphne asked as we gathered our things into our bags and left the library.

I shrugged, and Draco said nothing as we continued our way to the Common Room. Everyone seemed to be just as confused as we were as we all sat around and waited for Snape to come in and explain. It took about twenty minutes before the portrait finally opened and our Head of House walked in, the entire Common Room falling silent.

"A girl has been taken into the Chamber." The room was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop onto the rug. "The school is going to close. Pack your things, the train will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. Your parents have been notified already."

With that, Snape walked back out of the Common Room. It seemed to take everyone a moment to process the news before people started to slowly go into their dormitories. I glanced at Daphne who looked just as terrified as I felt.

"Who do you think it was?" I wasn't expecting to get any sort of response from anyone, but I wasn't shocked when I heard Draco speak.

"Too bad Granger is already petrified. It would have been perfect if it had been her."

"Draco." Daphne seemed to have had enough of Draco talking about Hermione and all the other Muggle-borns as if they weren't really people. "There is a girl stuck somewhere with a monster and she could very well be dead. Maybe have some sympathy."

She quickly got up and stormed to our dormitory, leaving Draco stunned. He never expected Daphne to stand up to him in the way she had, and it seemed to have shut him up. I got up and followed Daphne, sitting down on my bed and not moving.

"I don't want to leave." I said quietly.

"I don't either." Daphne was sitting on her bed as well, staring down at the ground. "I didn't think that something like this would happen."

I was silent, but I agreed with her. As much as I didn't want to leave the school, I was afraid to stay in the school in case whatever it was the resided within the Chamber chose to strike again. After a while I finally started to slowly pack up my belongings once Pansy and Millicent joined us in the room. I found it impossible to sleep that night, so I laid in my bed staring up at the ceiling for hours until I finally fell asleep for what only seemed like a couple of minutes before Daphne was waking me up to go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The whole mood of the school was sombre as we all ate our last meal that we would have at Hogwarts. There were not conversations, just the sound of utensils occasionally scraping against a plate. It wasn't until Filch came running into the Great Hall towards McGonagall that anyone said anything. There were a few whispers as the acting Headmistress quickly stood up and rushed out of the room. The whispers grew louder as Snape then followed and we were left wondering what if the news that Filch had delivered had been something even more tragic than the girl being taken into the Chamber. We didn't have to wait long until McGonagall came back in with a small smile on her face and walked towards the podium at the head of the room.

"Attention, everyone." Her voice echoed throughout the room. "Something has happened related to the girl that was taken into the Chamber."

She let the whispers build up again for a moment before Dumbledore came striding into the room and took the spot in front of the podium. "The Chamber of Secrets has been closed for good. The missing girl, Ginny Weasley, has been retrieved and is recovering in the Hospital Wing as we speak. Hogwarts will no longer be closing, and all of your things have been returned to your dormitories and letter sent to your families. Classes have been cancelled for the remainder of the day, so enjoy the sunny weather."

Cheers erupted from everyone in the Great Hall, both from the sight of Dumbledore back at the school and that we wouldn't have to go home early. Draco didn't look pleased that Dumbledore was back, but I could tell he was relieved that we didn't have to go home just yet. Following Dumbledore's advice, our friend group made our way towards the lake for the day and found a tree to huddle under.

It was only a few days after that it was announced that the petrified students would be woken up. The sight of Hermione and all of the other Muggle-borns arriving back into the Great Hall was a relief to me. An even greater relief was when Dumbledore announced that all school exams would be cancelled, despite how much I had studied for them. The last couple of weeks of school were quiet as the school finally was able to relax after the constant threat of something terrible happening had finally passed. I wasn't as sad to go home once the year ended, I was rather excited to see my mum again after I thought that there was a possibility that I would never see her again.

"Do you think next year will be quieter?" Daphne asked with a laugh as we boarded the train to go home.

"We can only hope."


	10. Chapter 10

"Liliana!" I heard my mum yell from the bottom of the stairs for the third time that morning. "We have to go or else you're going to miss the train!"

I quickly gathered all of my things and folded up the copy of the Daily Prophet that I had been reading and left my room. I had received the paper a couple of days ago, but I had been so busy that I hadn't gotten a chance to read it until then. The cover was plastered with the mug shot of a wild looking wizard called Sirius Black who had broken out of Azkaban, something that had never been done before. There was something about the man that I found interesting and I made a mental note to ask Daphne more about him once we were on the train.

"What were you doing up there?" Mum asked with an amused smile as I followed her out to the car to pack my trunk in.

"Sorry, I got distracted by the Daily Prophet. A wizard broke out of Azkaban and apparently he's a vicious murdered."

"Sounds cheerful." Mum laughed. "Got everything? Athena?"

I nodded and pointed at the cage with my gorgeous barn owl, Athena, sat on top of the car. Mum had bought her for me as a late birthday gift when we went to Diagon Alley to get all of my books and supplies. "Got everything."

"Good." Mum got into the car and I went around the other side and got into the passenger seat. "Tell me about this man who escaped."

"It says that he murdered thirteen people twelve years ago and that he is the first person ever to break out of Azkaban." I told her, opening up the newspaper again and looking at the moving mugshot once more. "His name is Sirius Black."

Mum practically slammed on the breaks when I said his name and a look of shock came across her face. "Can I see that?" She asked when we stopped at a red light.

I handed her the paper and watched her eyes go wide for a moment before she collected herself and gave the paper back. "Are you alright mum?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. He looks like a crazy man, hopefully they catch him quickly."

The rest of the ride was surprisingly silent until we reached King's Cross. Mum helped me get everything out of the car and walked with me onto Platform 9 ¾. Once all of my things were stored on the train I turned to mum and she gave me an extremely tight hug.

"Be careful, alright?"

"Mum, nothing bad is going to happen this year. The Chamber has been closed and there's nothing that can hurt me." I assured her.

She pulled away and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear with a soft smile. "I know, I just worry about you."

The train whistle sounded, and I pulled my mum in for another hug. "Bye mum, love you."

"I love you too, Ana."

I gave her one last wave as I boarded the train and quickly walked down the aisles to find the carriage that my friends were in. I spotted Pansy sat with Theo and quickly gave the girl a hug before sitting down. I had heard more from both of the Slytherins over the summer than I had the year before. I almost didn't recognize Theo as I sat across from him because of how much he had changed over the summer.

"Look at you, Nott." I smirked at him. "Not so weird and lanky anymore."

Nott had filled out his already tall frame and he didn't seem so weirdly proportioned anymore. It was clear even from him sitting down that he had grown taller, but he had also filled out a bit more. His fair was a little longer and his features seemed to be more defined that they had been in the past, all things that I knew would make the girls start to swoon over him.

"I could say similar about you, Taylor." Nott smirked back, looking me up and down.

I had let my hair grow over the summer, my black, curly hair had been tamed just slightly because of the length and it suited me much better than it had the past few years. I had gained a bit of weight, but in a way that made me look healthy and fit, rather than sickly. I didn't think I had changed all that much, I definitely hadn't grown at all, but I didn't think I would grow anymore anyways, but apparently the changes that happened over the summer were much more noticeable to Nott than they were to me.

"Ana!" Daphne exclaimed as she entered the compartment. "You look lovely, my goodness."

"So you do! Look at your hair!" Daphne had done the same as me and grown her hair out, leaving her with long, flowing blonde hair. She had definitely grown over the summer and she seemed to have lost some weight as well, leaving her with high cheek bones and a perfectly structured jaw.

Daphne quickly sat down beside me after giving me a quick hug, taking the seat beside the window that I had left open and the doorway was quickly occupied by Crabbe and Goyle who seemed to have only gained more weight over the summer, no doubt from them just gorging themselves on sweets the whole time. Following them in was the other blond of the group, Draco. My breath nearly caught in my throat when I saw my friend, a boy who I had only ever seem with jelled back hair and weirdly pointed features. He was now standing in front of me with his fringe hanging loosely in front of his face, no jell in it whatsoever, and who stood almost a head taller than he had when I saw him last. The most striking thing about him was his facial features, still very sharp and pointed, but it seemed to actually fit his face properly and made him look rather handsome.

Daphne, who seemed to notice my staring, nudged me in the side to get my attention. I felt my face grow hot and heard my friend let out a little giggle at my expense. Draco, noticing that Crabbe and Goyle had filled up the rest of the bench Pansy and Theo had been sat on, sat down beside me with a quick glance in my direction.

"I wonder what train wreck the school has in store for us this year." Draco grumbled.

"Draco, we have barely left the station and you're already complaining about Hogwarts." Daphne shook her head at his with a fond smile. "Give it a rest mate."

Draco did his best to hide his smile, but I caught the corners of his mouth twitch upwards at Daph's scolding. "My apologies, Daphne."

"Thank you." She nodded her head at him with a faux serious look before letting out a little giggle. "Now, I'm sure everyone had an exciting summer, but can we please talk about how Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban?"

"Mum reckons he must have found out a way to kill the guards and the dementors in order to get out." Pansy leaned forward with a very serious expression on her face.

Theo scoffed. "Pans, I don't think you can kill a dementor."

"Well that's what my mum was saying!"

"The man has been in there for twelve years, he had to have figured out some trick to get past both the guards and the dementors." Daphne chimed in, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist. "Raging lunatic, he is."

"I'm surprised he did it alone. I would've thought he would try and break out Bellatrix as well." Theo nodded at Draco who shrugged and looked bored with the conversation.

"He was removed from the family, I don't think dear Auntie Bella would go with him even if he offered."

I glanced over at Pansy with a raised eyebrow. She quickly mouthed the word 'later' before turning her attention back to the rest of the group. She quickly pulled Pansy into some conversation about a Witch Weekly article she had read over the summer and Theo was distracted by Crabbe and Goyle telling him a story about only Merlin knew what.

"How was your summer, Draco?" I turned to the blond boy and gave him a smile. I had exchanged many letters with him over the summer, but I didn't know if anything had happened between the time I had spoke to his last and then.

"It was fine. The weather was rubbish when we went to one of our houses in France, so we had to stay inside the whole time, but it was alright." He shifted slightly in his seat so he was facing me more. "How's Athena."

"She's brilliant." I beamed. "I was so happy when mum let me get her, she spent the whole time leading up to coming here in my room and she is extremely sweet."

Draco smiled slightly at my enthusiasm. "I was shocked when you were the one to send me a letter first and an owl I had never seen before was pecking at my window. She kept biting at my ear and wouldn't get off my shoulder when she finally settled down a bit after riling up my own owl by flying around the room rapidly."

I let out a soft laugh. "That just means she likes you, Draco."

"Well maybe she could show her affection in a way that's a little less painful." He smirked, and a small laugh slipped past his lips. "Between your bloody bird and that stupid textbook we have for Care of Magical Creatures, my room was nearly torn to shreds."

Our conversation was cut short when the train suddenly lurched to a stop. "What's going on?" I asked right away. Draco stood up and poked his head out of the compartment to try and see what was going on but sat back down when he couldn't see anything.

All of a sudden, all of the lights on the train went out, plummeting us into darkness. The train lurched forward another time and I instinctively reached beside me and grabbed onto Draco's arm. Only a moment later it felt as though the temperature in the compartment dropped drastically, leaving us all able to see our own breaths. I could see a dark shadow moving outside of the compartment and the hold I had on Draco's arm tightened. It took about ten minutes for the lights to come back on and the train to start moving once again. Realizing I was still holding on to Draco's arm, I quickly let go and avoided looking at him. I excused myself from the compartment and made my way down the train towards the toilets.

On the way back, I spotted Ron and Hermione sat with Harry in a compartment. I opened the door and looked at Harry who was extremely pale and looked sickly. "What happened to you?"

"He fainted. The dementor that came on the train seemed to attack him or something." Hermione explained.

"Oh. Well, I hope you feel better." With that, I left the three Gryffindors and made my way back to my compartment. I took my seat between Draco and Daphne again and told my friends that it was a dementor that was on the train and what happened to Harry.

Draco and Theo kept making jokes about Harry fainting the rest of the way to Hogwarts and continued on until we were sat in the Great Hall. As luck would have it, Harry ended up sitting close enough to us that Draco and Theo were able to mock him for passing out, earning a glare directed at me from both Ron and Harry.

"I don't understand why the dementors are at the school." Draco drawled as we made our way to the Common Room once the feast had ended. "Do they really expect Black to come to Hogwarts?"

"You never know, he is a raging lunatic." Daphne pointed out. "Now, Ana and I are going to bed so we don't have to deal with you lot any longer."

I let the blonde girl pull me into our dormitory and sat down on my bed with me. "Daphne?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange, she's Draco's aunt and she is imprisoned in Azkaban for being a supporter of the Dark Lord. Sirius Black, the one who broke out, is cousins with Bellatrix and Narcissa, Draco's mother, but he was disowned by his mother after he refused to follow along with his family's rules about blood status."

"So, Sirius Black is Draco's… Cousin?"

"Technically." Daphne corrected. "In the Wizarding World, things are a little different than what they might be from the Muggle world. When a person is disowned, while they still contain some of the genetics and surname of their family, they are no longer considered to be genuinely part of the family. So, if you were to ask Draco's mother about him, she would say she has no relation to the man. It's like they are completely removed from the family all together and, despite being raised in it, are no longer part of it."

It took me a moment to process everything Daphne was saying to me, but I eventually understood. "Why is that?"

"Magical families don't want their bloodline tainted by blood-traitors, so it's just easier to remove that person from the family all together than to have that shame hanging over them. Once they are gone, that person can do whatever they please and it won't impact their family bloodline."

"Is blood purity really that important to all wizarding families?" I couldn't believe that some families would completely remove their own children from their bloodline just to keep it completely pure.

"Not all, just majority of Pureblood families." Daphne informed me. "Now that you're all caught up, I really am tired, and I fancy getting to bed early tonight."

Daphne hopped off my bed and made her way towards the bathroom to get herself ready for bed, leaving me to fully process all of the information she just unloaded on me. If Draco's aunt had been a big supported of You-Know-Who, did that mean all of Draco's family had been? I knew that Draco's family were big on blood purity, and that Draco himself believed in it, but was it to the point where he would support such a crazy man? I didn't think that Draco could be capable of the hate that I had come to learn the Dark Lord had possessed, and I just hoped that I was right.


	11. Chapter 11

It had only been a couple of days back to school and I had already developed a hatred for Divination, a class that was taught in a stuffy tower by a woman who was absolutely mad. The second the class started, I knew I would hate it and I was right.

"Can you believe that class?" I scoffed as I made my way towards Care of Magical Creatures with my friends. "There is no way I am going to stay in that made up class with that crazy woman."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Pansy stuck her nose up into the air and gave me a dirty look. "Professor Trelawny told me that I possessed a talent for Divination."

"That's what I mean, the woman is crazy." I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for Draco and Daphne to hear me, who were both walking beside me. "Perhaps I'll talk to Snape and get transferred to Ancient Runes with you, Draco."

Draco smiled at my suggestion but didn't say anything in response to that. "What I can't believe is that they're actually this giant oaf teach classes."

We quieted down as we reached the rest of the class, following Hagrid into the forest where he claimed to have a 'real treat' for us. He instructed us to open our textbooks by stroking the spine of the book, which caused it to fall open with no trouble. Draco was complaining loudly about how Hogwarts was terrible and how his father would hear about having Hagrid as a teacher, causing Harry to come forward to stick up for the man.

I smirked as Draco took a step forward as if he was going to say something back to Harry, only to step back and yell "Dementor, dementor!" while pointing to the sky. While everyone turned to look where he was pointing, I joined my housemates in putting the hoods of our robes up and making scary noises as Harry and the Gryffindors turned back around. Harry glared at all of us and Hermione looked disappointed that I had joined in mocking Harry with the rest of my friends, but I couldn't find it in me to be really bothered by it.

Hagrid called attention back to himself where he was stood beside a weird horse/chicken looking creature called Buckbeak. Hagrid told us a bit about Buckbeak and Hippogriffs in general, bringing Harry forward to demonstrate how exactly to act around a Hippogriff.

"This will be good." Draco muttered before pushing his way towards the front of the group. We watched as Harry was able to get right up to the creature, even getting put on it's back and flown around. "Of course, saint Potter at it again."

"Jealous are we, Draco?" I teased, nudging him lightly.

"Please, as if I'd ever be jealous of Potter."

I shared a look with Daphne and let out a little giggle. As if to prove his point that Harry wasn't so special, Draco stormed his way towards Buckbeak the second Harry was off the creature. "Draco, no!" I watched as the hippogriff reared up on his hind legs and came back down, scratching Draco's arm.

Draco dropped to the ground with a cry of pain and I rushed forward to go to him. I heard Hermione tell Hagrid that Draco had to go to the Hospital Wing and took a step back as the giant man picked up Draco. I followed the two of them with Daphne in tow to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey made me and Daphne wait outside while she bandaged Draco's arm.

"You know, you rushed towards Draco pretty quickly when he dropped to the ground earlier." Daphne gave me a sly smile.

"So? He's my friend and he got hurt. I was worried about him."

"Uh huh. Maybe it's because you fancy Draco a little?"

I gaped at Daphne. "What? I do not fancy Draco!"

Daphne rolled her eyes and put her arm around my shoulders. "It's alright if you do, he got well fit over the summer."

"I don't fancy him." I insisted. "If I did, I would tell you. He's just my friend and he got hurt and so I was worried about him."

"Alright." Daphne didn't seem convinced, but she thankfully dropped the subject.

I wasn't lying when I told her I didn't fancy Draco, because I didn't. Yes, I did think that he was rather cute, but that didn't mean I had a crush on him or anything. Draco was just a good friend and I wanted to make sure he was okay. That was it.

Once Draco was released from the Hospital Wing with his arm fully bandaged and in a sling, he started to go on and on about how he could have lost his arm and how he was lucky that he managed to make it in time. While Daphne and I didn't doubt that it was a serious cut, we were highly suspicious that Draco was telling the entire truth. Luckily for Draco, however, Pansy believed every word he was saying and cooed over him each time he flinched from moving his arm too much.

Draco continued his theatrics into the next couple of days, still earning sympathy form Pansy but the rest of the Slytherins paid no attention to him. Throughout every class, Pansy would coo over Draco and do almost everything for him, including taking all of his notes for him. The conversation was centered around Draco as we had a break between our classes right before Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I was anxious to get into the classroom and paid no attention to what anyone was saying. In first year, I had found the class very fascinating, which was why I was so disappointed when we had such a terrible teacher the previous year. The new professor, Lupin, was very good at his job and I was always eager to learn more form him.

"He's been sighted, he's been sighted!" I heard the Irish boy in Gryffindor, Finnegan, yelling as he ran into the Great Hall. "Sirius Black!"

"Sirius Black?" I heard Daphne echo after the boy. Any questions we had about what the boy was going on about was quickly answered when Draco's owl flew into the hall and dropped the most recent addition of the Daily Prophet in front of us.

I quickly reached for the paper and unravelled it, skimming over the article and informing my housemates about the most recent update. "Sirius Black has been sighted in Dufftown." I put the paper down and pulled my eyebrows together. "Why would he be so close to the school? Surely he would have heard about the dementors if he was so close."

"Maybe he doesn't care if he gets caught anymore." Nott shrugged. "The man has spent so long locked away he probably doesn't know what it's like to be a free man anymore. We've all heard stories of Azkaban driving people mad."

"I think he was mad to begin with." Draco scoffed.

Taking advantage of the time we had left in our break, I quickly pulled out a spare piece of parchment and my quill and started to write a letter to my mum to tell her about the most recent update about Sirius Black.

 _Dear Mum,_

 _I hope everything is well with you. I miss you loads and I know Athena misses the treats you used to make for her._

 _I know I only wrote you yesterday, but today we got news that Sirius Black has been sighted in a town near Hogwarts. Now, I don't want you to worry, Hogwarts is safe and there is no way he could get into the school with all the dementors around. I just thought that I should tell you the news so that you are up to date with everything._

 _Love you lots,_

 _Liliana_

"Ana, come on. We should go to class now." Daphne tugged on my arm lightly just as I finished writing the letter to mum. I quickly put everything away and followed my friends as we went to the D.A.D.A classroom.

In the middle of the classroom was a giant wardrobe that was shaking uncontrollably. As everyone started to pile into the room, the whispers started up as to what could possibly be in there. A couple of students had already guessed that the large piece of furniture contained a boggart, and their suspicions were confirmed when Professor Lupin started his lesson and introduced us to what a boggart was. He taught us the incantation that would get rid of a boggart and got us all to repeat it a couple of times before using Neville Longbottom as an example for what we would be doing during the lesson. Seeing Snape dressed in old lady clothes had everyone laughing and set the tone for the rest of the lesson.

I made my way towards the back of the line up and was terrified of what would show in front of the entire class as my greatest fear. I knew it would be something about the fact that I was raised by a Muggle, but I wasn't sure how that would translate into a boggart. I just hoped that time would run out before it was my turn to face the creature, and as Harry stepped up to take his turn, it seemed as though I would get my wish. The boggart quickly transformed into a dementor, causing Lupin to jump in front of the Gryffindor boy and for the creature to change shape into a moon. The professor sent the boggart away and cleared his throat.

"Right, lesson over. Sorry to those who didn't get a chance, perhaps next time we have some spare time we can work on this more. For now, the assignment is on the board."

Everyone who didn't get to participate let out a disappointed groan but listened to the teacher's instructions and copied out the word on the board. Once the class was dismissed, I quickly made my way to the Owlery to send off my letter to my mum with Athena before going back to the Common Room to put my things away before dinner.

It had only been a couple of days from when I sent my letter to my mum that I got a reply from her. The letter came on a Saturday morning along with the regular post, Athena blending in with the rest of the owls until she landed on my shoulder and dropped the letter onto my lap, waiting for me to give her a treat before nibbling my ear lightly. She seemed to notice Draco, who was sat beside me, and hopped onto his shoulder, giving his ear a little nibble as well before flying off.

"I told you, she likes you." I laughed when Draco grumbled after the bird left. He tried to shoot me a glare, but it was laced with a small smile. I watched as my friends all opened their letter before opening mine and reading over what my mum had written me.

 _Dearest Liliana,_

 _I had hoped that I would have been able to do this when you came home for Christmas, but your news about Sirius Black being so close to Hogwarts was unexpected and I feel it's best to tell you now before anything else happens._

 _When you showed me that article about the man back in September, I knew his name right away and seeing the picture of him only confirmed what I had feared. It was a name I hadn't heard in years, one I never thought I would hear again, but life is funny that things like that will pop up again when least expected. There really is no easy way to tell you this, darling, but that man is the man I fell in love with all those years ago._

 _Sirius Black is your father._

I didn't even see what the rest of the letter said after those five words. My heart stopped beating and all the air rushed out of my body. The letter fell from my hands and I was vaguely aware that I was shaking, whether it was from anger or fear, I didn't know.

"Ana? Are you alright?" I heard Draco ask me, his voice barely more than background noise to me.

I quickly stood up and grabbed the letter, rushing out of the Great Hall and ignoring all of the calls coming from my friends. I didn't know where I was going, I just let my legs carry me to wherever they had in mind until I found myself by a tree in front of the lake. I collapsed to the ground and let out a sob, still clutching the letter tightly in my hand. I didn't know how long I sat there before I heard someone sit down beside me.

"Ana." Daphne's soft voice made me lift my head from my hands. "What happened?"

I couldn't answer her, just shaking my head and holding out the letter for her to read. I trusted Daphne more than I trusted anyone else in our house, and I knew she wouldn't spread around the secret that my mother had just revealed to anyone else. I heard her let out a gasp when she no doubt got to the part about Sirius Black being my father and felt her put a hand on my back right away.

It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself before I could finally look up at my friend. "How could she?"

"What do you mean?"

"How could she not tell me? Why would she wait this long to tell me if she knew all this time who he was?"

"How far did you get into the letter?"

I narrowed my eyes at the odd question. "What?"

"Did you read all of it, Liliana?"

"No." I admitted. "I stopped reading after the whole 'your father is a raging lunatic who is a serial killer' part."

Daphne sighed and held out the letter towards me. "Finish reading it."

I stared at the girl before giving in and taking the letter from her, picking up where I had left off.

 _Sirius Black is your father._

 _Now, I must make something very clear before you jump to conclusions about me. When I met him, he was a funny, extremely kind man who wouldn't hurt a soul. He was sweeter than any man I had ever met and never once made me feel unsafe or that he would do anything to harm me. We spent so long together, and I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but I was wrong because he never once told me he was a wizard._

 _He was always fiercely protective over me, which is why I was so heartbroken when we left so suddenly when I told him I was pregnant. He had been so excited when I first told him spending hours with me, and you, and would sit and talk to you for ages, even though there was no actual evidence that you were even there yet. It was two weeks after I told him the news that he came to my house and told me that he couldn't be with me anymore and that I would never see him again. He kept true to his promise, as much as I tried to look for him, I never saw him again or even heard his name again, that is until you said it on the way to the train station._

 _Again, I wish I could have told you this in person, but I didn't think waiting any longer would be wise. I will discuss this more with you when you come home for the holidays, but I will answer any questions you may have until then through our letters._

 _Be safe, my love._

 _Love,_

 _Mum_

I reread what my mum wrote three times before I could even comprehend it all. "I…I don't know what to even thing about that. He clearly tricked my mum and when he was going to go on his murderous rampage, he left suddenly."

"Maybe that's the case, but we don't know. It seems like your mum and him really loved each other. It almost seemed like he loved you, even though he didn't know you."

"Then why did he leave?" I knew Daphne didn't have the answer, but I was hoping the truth would come out somehow.


	12. Chapter 12

The news about Sirius Black being my father had shaken me so badly that I could barely focus on anything other than that. I barely spoke to any of my friends, other than Daphne, and barely touched any of my school work either. I hadn't written my mum back, I couldn't think of anything to say to her after what she had confessed. I was angry at her, angry for telling me over a letter and angry that she didn't tell me earlier the truth about my father. I always believed that he wanted nothing to do with me growing up, but it was clear that he did care for me to some extent, at least for a little while. Daphne had tried her hardest to distract from the fact that I wasn't myself, but it was clear that our friends weren't buying her excuses anymore.

The announcement of the first Hogsmeade visit had Daphne practically jumping for joy, convinced that visiting the village would get me out of my negative headspace. "Come on, Ana. It's the first time we are allowed to go, and I really want to visit Honeydukes."

"You just go." I shrugged her off as we walked through the corridors towards the dungeons. "I don't really feel like going."

Daphne let out a loud sigh. "Will you at least think about it? It's still a couple of days away."

"Fine." I grumbled, mostly just to get her to stop talking about it.

"Yay!" Daphne let out a high pitched squeal that sounded far too close to a sound that Pansy would make. "Now, I've been thinking about this a lot. You know, the Blacks and the Malfoys are linked very heavily though marriage."

"So, what? I'm related to Draco now? Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Well, technically you're not. Remember what I said at the beginning of the year about people being disowned from their families? Well, your dad was removed from the Black family, which means that you aren't technically related to Draco any longer, but you would have been if your dad hadn't been removed."

"Comforting. Not only is my father a crazy, escaped murderer, but he also did something so disappointing to his family that he was removed completely from the bloodline." I rolled my eyes at Daphne and sped up slightly to try and get to the Common Room faster.

Daphne grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop, giving me a serious look. "Ana, I can't even imagine what you are going through, but I just want to let you know that I am here for you if you want to talk."

I felt my gaze soften towards my friend and gave her the first smile I managed to muster in days. "Thank you, Daphne. I'm just still in shock about the whole thing."

"Of course." Daphne looped her arm through mine and continued walking towards the Common Room with me in tow. "At least the other positive thing is that we now know that you are for sure a Half-blood, and it makes sense that you're in Slytherin because the Black's are known to have a very long history in the house."

"Well, there's one mystery solved. Only about a million left to figure out."

In the end, I did decide to go with my friends to Hogsmeade, if only to avoid the question that would no doubt have come my way if I didn't go. Daphne was overjoyed when I told her the news and immediately started planning out the entire day for all of us. Despite the excitement that my friend had towards going to the village, I was still trying to process everything and couldn't help but remain slightly detached from everyone up until the day of.

"I'm surprised you came." Theo nudged me as we all walked from the castle towards the village. "You've been so quiet and not talking to anyone for so long I thought you'd moved on from us."

I let out a soft little laugh, not responding to Theo's comment but instead choosing to keep my head down and continue walking with the group. Daphne, noticing my reluctance to speak, quickly changed the topic to one focused on an essay McGonagall had recently assigned us. I silently followed along as my friends went in and out of different shops, wooing and aweing at the different goodies each place offered. Daphne insisted that we left Honeydukes for last, knowing everyone would spend most of their money there and it would be the one place everyone would enjoy the most.

"Oi, Ana! What do you say you try one of these? I'll pay for it." Theo held up one of the blood-flavoured lollipops that I had seen earlier when we walked in and I scrunched my nose up.

"I'll pass this time." I turned away from the laughing boy and wandered further into the shop. I was lost looking at all of the bright colours and different sweets that were spread out in front of me and didn't even notice when someone walked up beside me until they cleared their throat. "Merlin, Draco you scared me."

I clutched my hand to my chest and glared at my blond friend as he let out a chuckle. "Sorry, I thought you heard me coming." I shook my head in response and looked away, causing him to clear his throat. "Are you alright, Ana? You've been very… Distant the past few days."

I sighed and looked back at my friend. "I… I've just had some very shocking news told to me and I've been trying to process it as best I can." I explained as best as I could without revealing too much.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." I answered right away. I noticed Draco's disappointed look and felt bad for being so short with him. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet but thank you."

Draco nodded his head and said nothing more on the subject. "Are you planning on buying anything, then?"

"Probably not. I don't really see the point in spending all of my money on sweets, especially when I don't have a lot of money to begin with."

"Well, what's your favourite?" I was glad Draco didn't say anything about my comment on the amount of money I had but confused about his question. "Come on, Ana. What's your favourite sweet?"

"Uh…" I glanced around me and my sight settled on the array of Sugar Quills. "I suppose Sugar Quills."

"Which one?"

"I quite like the apple ones, and the strawberry as well." I turned back to Draco and raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

Draco said nothing as he took a step towards the sweets and plucked two of the apple flavoured ones and two of the strawberry ones, shooting me a wink as he walked past me towards the back of the shop. He pulled out a few galleons from his pocket and handed it to the witch standing behind the counter before turning back and coming to stand in front of me. He handed me one of each of the two flavours and pocketed the other two.

"Draco?"

"What a coincidence, my two favourite flavours are the same as yours." He shrugged. "I think the words you are looking for are 'thank you'."

I rolled my eyes at my friend but couldn't hold back the smile that snuck its way onto my face. "Thank you. You didn't have to buy these for me."

"You're right, but I wanted to. Maybe some sugar will bring you out of whatever state of shock you are in."

I felt my cheeks heat up unintentionally and I quickly looked towards the ground, not being able to meet Draco's striking grey eyes at the moment. I had barely talked to anyone for nearly two weeks and I figured they would have just given up even trying to get me speak to them again, but there was Draco, buying me sweets and not pushing me to speak about anything I didn't want to speak about. Daphne had tried her hardest in that time to try and get me to smile, even just a little, and she hadn't succeeded in that task. I barely spoke to Draco for more than ten minutes and he managed to get me to smile and to forget about everything to do with my father.

"Ana! Ana! An-oh." Daphne came to a sudden stop, eyeing me and Draco funnily. It wasn't until that moment that I realized just how close Draco and I were standing and quickly took a step back from the boy. Draco seemed to notice my sudden movement and a slight frown fell onto his face, but he quickly hid it with a look of indifference towards Daphne. "I was just going to say, it's getting late and we thought we would head back to the castle."

"Right." I glanced outside the window and noticed how the sky had already started to darken from the time we entered the shop until that moment. "We should probably head back then. Dinner will probably be served soon."

Daphne led the way out of the shop with her arm looped through Pansy's, the two of them practically skipping down the path. "I reckon they already ate nearly half of the candy they just bought by the way they're acting." Draco whispered to me and I let out a genuine laugh, something that hadn't happen since I got the news.

The two of us fell a bit behind the group and chatted quietly to each other the whole way back to the castle. As we were nearing the Great Hall, I started to slow a bit and fidget with the sleeve of the jumper I had on.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked, slowing down his own pace to match mine.

"I just wanted to say thank you." I admitted, quiet enough that just he would hear. "I know I haven't been the greatest friend that past little bit, and I'm being very secretive with everything, but you haven't pushed me to say anything and you managed to make me forget about all of it for a while. So, thank you."

Draco seemed shocked but simply nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Don't worry about it."

I smiled at him and before I could even think about what I was doing, I quickly pulled him into a hug. I pulled away before he even had time to react and thanked him once more. I turned and made my way into the Great Hall taking a spot beside Daphne and starting to put food onto my plate, noticing that it took Draco a couple of moments to join us. Once we were back in the Common Room after dinner, we barely had anytime to put our things away before Snape's voice rang through the entire Common Room, informing us that we all needed to meet in the main area.

"Sirius Black has been spotted in the castle by one of the portraits. Everyone is to go to the Great Hall at once."

My blood ran cold and I was grateful that I was leaning on one of the couches already because I felt my legs give out from under me. Daphne was at my side in an instant and quickly pulled me up, so I was leaning against her. I could hear her whispering to me, but I didn't have any idea as to what she was saying, I just let her lead me with the rest of the Slytherins to the Great Hall. There were small beds laid all over the floor and we were instructed to find one to sleep on for the night. Daphne pulled me so I was in between her and Draco along one of the walls.

"Ana, everything is going to be alright." I finally started to listen to what my friend was saying to me. "He's not going to hurt you, I'm sure he doesn't even know you're here."

"And what if he does?" I spat at my friend in a violent whisper. "The man murdered people, Daphne, what's to say he won't try to hunt down and kill his won daughter?"

Daphne was speechless, completely unable to even think of a response to me that would squish my fears. I turned away from the girl and laid down in the bed I had taken, hoping that it would save me from speaking to anyone, but I had forgotten that Draco was on the other side of me. He raised an eyebrow, clearly noticing that I was upset about something. I shook my head at him and he visibly sighed but looked away, giving me my privacy. I didn't sleep a wink that night, too petrified of what could've possibly happened to me if I let my guard down for even one second.


	13. Chapter 13

The disappearance of Professor Lupin following the sighting of Sirius Black had put me even more on edge, for some reason. Despite barely knowing the new teacher, I felt comfortable with him and his lessons always made me feel relaxed, so when Snape showed up to teach I was less than happy. I had been more on edge than I had been when I first got my mum's letter, opting to spend almost all of my free time holed up in my room instead of with my friends. I had finally decided to write my mum back after I received the third letting from her apologizing once more for how she revealed the news to me and told her that it would just take me some time to come to terms with it and that I wasn't angry with her anymore. She repeated her promise of telling me everything come Christmas and I believed that she would, I just wasn't sure if I wanted to know everything anymore or if I was happy to just pretend that none of it was happening.

After Harry's run in with the dementors during a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, everyone was nervous that they would have their own run in with the vile creatures. Dumbledore had announced during dinner one night that we had nothing to worry about, that the dementors wouldn't get that close to the grounds again and that it had been a rare occurrence that that had happened. The only relief I got from my nerves was when Lupin finally returned from classes. The man looked exhausted but still had a smile on his face and did his best to make the class entertaining for all of us.

"Miss Taylor." Lupin's voice sounded as we were all packing our things and heading out of the classroom to end our day. "A word, if you don't mind."

Daphne gave me a hesitant look and I told her to go on without me, walking towards the front of the room once she left. "Yes, professor?"

"I hope you don't mind me being blunt, but I couldn't help but notice that you don't seem to be yourself. I noticed before I fell ill that you seemed a little on edge, but it seems to have gotten worse in my absence." I was taken back that the professor had even noticed the change in my demeanor. "Is everything alright?"

I opened my mouth to brush him off quickly but found myself shutting my mouth quickly and looking down. "I…"

"I want you to know that anything you say to me will stay between us. I know this school has a bit of a problem with gossip, but you have my word that nothing you tell me will leave this room."

"It's a bit hard to explain." I mumbled. "I received some news from my mother, something about my father, that has scared me a little."

I found that I didn't want to lie to the professor, that I could tell him anything and that he truly wouldn't betray my trust. Perhaps it was the friendly smile he always seemed to have on his face, or that there was something about him that just made me feel safe that allowed me to open up to him, even just a little.

"Your father? Has something bad happened to him?"

"No, not exactly." I took a deep breath before looking up at the man in front of me. "I never knew my father growing up, and suddenly my mum revealed that he is a wizard and that she knows exactly who he is. She refused to speak about him before this year, and she told me about him in a letter."

"I see." The older man gave me a sympathetic look. "And did finding out your father is a wizard scare you? Or was it something else she revealed about him that caused your fear?"

It almost seemed as though Lupin was trying to get a specific answer out of me, like he already had an idea of what I was talking about, but he just needed me to confirm his theory. I knew it was impossible for him to know about who my father really was, and that I was most likely overreacting and causing myself to panic.

"Finding out he was a wizard was a bit of a relief, if I'm honest. My mother is a Muggle, you see, so I wasn't sure why I was sorted into Slytherin if I had two Muggle parents, but at the same time, I almost wish he was a Muggle. It would have been better if he was rather than who he really is." Immediately scolding myself for not being able to hold my tongue, I shifted my bag on my shoulder and looked away from Lupin. "I should go, professor. I'm sure my friends are waiting for me to go to dinner."

"Of course." Lupin nodded, seemingly disappointed that I didn't reveal more to him at that time. "Remember, Liliana, if you ever want to talk to someone, my door is always open."

"Thank you, professor." I was sincere in my thanks and bid the man goodbye before quickly walking out of the classroom. I played over the conversation in my head nearly a million times as I walked to the Common Room.

"Finally!" Daphne jumped out of her seat when she saw me walk in. "Been waiting for ages for you to come back."

My friend followed me up to our dorm and carefully shut the door behind us. I sighed in relief when I didn't see Pansy or Millicent in the room. "Lupin was just making sure I was alright. He noticed that I was being weird after my mum's big father reveal and he was just checking that everything was fine."

"Really? Why would he care?"

"I don't know, Daph. Maybe he's just a good person who actually cares about his students." I snapped at my friend. "Sorry, it's just been a long week."

"I know." Daphne nodded. "Hurry up and put your things away, I'm starving."

Most of our friends didn't even register that Daphne and I had showed up late to the feast, too caught up in their own meals and conversations to care. I slid in next to Draco and quickly piled food onto my plate, eager to finally eat after having skipped lunch to spend some time alone in my room.

"Where have you been?" Draco's voice was low enough that only I could hear him.

"Talking with Lupin." I answered simply.

"About?"

"Nothing to worry yourself over."

Draco huffed but still hadn't turned to look at me. "Fine. Shall we go study in the library tonight?"

"I don't see why not. I'll tell Daph-"

"No, I mean just the two of us." This caused me to turn and look at Draco, who was still looking down at his plate.

"Just the two of us?"

Draco looked over at me then with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. Is that a problem?"

"No." I answered quickly. "Not at all."

"Good."

With that, our conversation was finished, and we didn't speak a word to each other for the rest of the meal. Once dinner was over, all of us made our way back to the Common Room, Draco and I quickly gathering some books before slipping away and walking to the library in silence. We set up at our usual table and started working, not uttering a word to each other for a good hour. After the visit to Hogsmeade, I had wanted to tell Draco everything about my father, but I had been too nervous to. He deserved to know, considering how I viewed him as one of my closest friends, but I just hadn't found the right time to do so.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened that day you got that letter and rushed out of the Great Hall?" Draco finally broke our silence, his question taking me by surprise.

"I plan to, eventually. I'm still trying to figure it out myself, so once I do, I promise I will tell you everything."

"Daphne knows, doesn't she?"

"Yes, but that's just because she read the letter. If she hadn't followed me out, she probably wouldn't have known either."

Draco was silent for a moment and I thought he was going to drop the subject all together. "I was going to follow you, you know."

"What?" I stopped writing and my head snapped up to look at my friend, who was already staring at me with his intense gaze.

"I was. I was about to stand up when Daphne said that she would see what happened and she took off. I debated still going, but Theo distracted me, and I just left it."

I was completely speechless at Draco's confession. If Draco had been the one to follow me out, would things have been different? Or would everything have stayed the same but with Draco being the one who knew my secret instead of Daphne? I knew it would have been different, that Draco wouldn't have understood because he would have learnt that I wasn't who I claimed I was, that I was raised by a Muggle and that my father was someone who had been related to his mother.

"Oh." Was all I could say in response to him.

"I wish I had, because then I would know why you've been hiding from all of us, but I trust that you'll keep your word and tell me eventually. I'll just have to wait for that day."

That was the last thing Draco said to me for the rest of the night. We stayed in the library until we were kicked out by Madam Pince and forced to return to our Common Room. Draco stayed true to his word and didn't bring up the subject again, and as the days grew shorter and colder, I knew that his patience had to be wearing thin. I planned out exactly how I would tell him, waiting right until we were about to leave for the Christmas holiday so that he would have time to think it all through and I wouldn't have to see his disappointment when he found out that I wasn't who I said I was for a couple of weeks until we all returned.

There were only a few weeks left before Hogwarts would be nearly empty as kids went home to visit their families for the holidays, but there had yet to be any snow that fell. I always thought that it wasn't truly Christmas unless it snowed, even just a little, but there was still time for the white flakes to fall before the day descended. I did my best to learn as much as I could about my father in the time that I had before going home, learning that he had attended school with both Professor Lupin and Professor Snape, and had also been there with Harry's parents. I had worked on building up enough courage to finally ask Lupin about the man that I never knew but who was now prominent in my life and finally found it as November was starting to end.

I waited until the class had ended, taking my time to pack up my things and shooing away my friends until it was just the two of us left. Lupin could tell that I was waiting to speak to him and sat on top of his desk with an amused look.

"What can I do for you, Ana?" He asked once everyone else had finally left.

"You went to school with Sirius Black, didn't you?" Not wanting to waste anytime, I got straight to the point. I had left my books at my table and walked towards the front of the class where the professor was seated.

He was clearly not expecting that to be my opening question and it took him a moment to recover from his shock. "I was at Hogwarts the same time he was, yes." He admitted very slowly.

"What was he like?"

"Is there any particular reason you are asking me these questions?"

"Well, I know you were in the same house as him and you were a student here the same time he was, and I also know Professor Snape was as well, but I don't think he'd give me the time of day to ask him this. I'm just very curious about him, that's all."

Lupin seemed to mull my answer over in his head before speaking. "Sirius Black was a very interesting man. You're correct, he was a Gryffindor like me, and he was someone I was at school with. If you're wondering if he was the lunatic that he is portrayed as now, the answer is no. He was quite the charmer and was very fond of bending the rules to get away with practically everything he wanted, but he wasn't someone who I thought would kill all those innocent people."

"His entire family were all in Slytherin. Wouldn't he have been more suited to be in Slytherin than in Gryffindor? Especially since he clearly wasn't as brave and courageous as most Gryffindors are seeing as he was fine with murdering people."

Lupin let out a sharp laugh. "You have been doing your research about the man. Why are you so interested in Sirius Black?"

It was my turn to take a pause to think of my own response. "After he snuck into the castle, I wanted to learn more about him. Purely out of curiosity more than anything. I think he may have known my father, so I was just curious to find out more about the man I just learned existed."

"Who's your father, Liliana?"

"I don't think you knew him." I answered quickly. "Thank you for speaking with me, professor. I appreciate it."

I quickly made my way back to my desk and gathered my books, not looking back as I left the room. I hoped that my odd questions wouldn't push my very perceptive teacher to look into things more and try to get the truth out of me, but I wouldn't put it past him to try.


	14. Chapter 14

A.N. Hey guys, I know that I usually don't put author's notes but I thought I would fill everyone who is following or has favourited this story as to whats going on. So I started writing this months ago and had written chapters 1 up to this one, but after this one I stopped writing. I just lost motivation and got busy with other things happening in my life, and I just haven't found my way back to this story yet. I got motivation to write other ffs and have two that I'm currently working on, but between those and school, all of my time had pretty much been taken up.

I'm not saying that I'm giving up on this story because I really am happy with my own work and how this has all played out so far, but like I said, I just don't have the motivation right now for it. With exams finishing up this week, I am hoping to return to this and try and continue, but I really don't want to make any promises as to when it will be back for sure.

To everyone who has favourited and is following the story, thank you so much. I never thought that people would actually enjoy reading my writing so your support means a lot to me. Please be patient with me and don't give up on this story because I promise it will be back!

I am planning on uploading my other two fics onto here as well most likely, one's a Vampire Diaries one and the other Twilight (I know, both about vampires because I really am _that_ bitch). If anyone wants to check those out, keep an eye out for them coming soon! Thank you again for bearing with me while I figure out what's going on with this story and I promise I will be back soon!

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It wasn't until the last week of November that the snow finally fell. With the Slytherin Common Room being in the dungeons under the lake, there was no way to see the thick blanket of snow that had descended upon the castle until we made our way towards the Great Hall for breakfast. At the sight of the fresh, untouched snow that covered the Courtyard, I was instantly put into a good mood. My spirits were soaring as I practically skipped into the Great Hall, taking a seat across from a rather tired looking Theo.

"Good morning." I sang, filling my cup with pumpkin juice.

Theo groaned and squinted up at me. "You know, right now I wish you were still giving us all the silent treatment."

"Come on, Nott. It snowed last night, it's exciting."

"No, it means it's cold and my feet are going to get wet anytime I walk outside."

"What is Nott's problem?" I heard Draco join us, taking a seat beside me.

"My problem is that it's Monday morning and Ana is far too cheery for me at the minute." Theo grumbled, holding his head in his hands.

"And why are you so cheery, then?"

"Because it snowed." I answered Draco, taking a bite of my eggs with a smile. "I love the snow, it means that it's nearly Christmas."

"I didn't know you liked it so much. I would've thought you'd prefer warmer weather." Draco reached over to my plate and grabbed a piece of toast that I had taken for myself and took a big bite out of it.

"Wanker." I shook my head at him. "No, I quite fancy the cold weather. I don't like being hot, it's never a comfortable feeling."

Draco just shrugged and finished off the toast before grabbing his own food for his plate. Slowly, Daphne, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle all joined us and tucked into their own breakfasts. It seemed that I was the only one who was in a cheerful mood, for the first time in nearly a month, and I was enjoying myself. I returned Draco's sneaky steal by taking one of his own pieces of toast, shooting him a wink when he glared at me. I felt the happiest I had been in months and I was finally looking forward to getting on the train with my classmates and going home for a little bit in just a couple of weeks.

"Miss Taylor." Snape's low drawl dragged me away from my thoughts of mince pies and pounds of sugar cookies. "Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with you in his office. Follow me."

I glanced over at Daphne with wide eyes and she just shrugged, not knowing what it could be about either. I slowly stood up and followed my Head of House out of the Great Hall. Snape didn't speak a word of whatever it was that I had been summoned about, he just walked quickly through the corridors until we reached a giant statue of a gargoyle and Snape muttered the password. He motioned for me to walk first up the staircase that lead to a rather heavy looking door. Snape rapped of the door before it swung open, revealing Dumbledore and McGonagall already in the room. Dumbledore was sat behind a rather large desk that was covered with different trinkets and looked as though there were no empty space on it with McGonagall standing behind him, looking down at me with a solemn look.

"Ah, Miss Taylor." Dumbledore offered me a gentle smile. "Please, take a seat."

"Have I done something wrong, professor?" I asked, slowly sitting in one of the arm chairs in front of his desk. I noticed that Snape hadn't moved from his spot by the door since we entered.

"No, not at all. I'm afraid we have received some news that I fear will be rather upsetting to you."

My heart immediately stopped beating for a moment and I feared that Dumbledore would reveal that they knew about Sirius Black being my father. I knew that the only way he could've known was if Daphne said something to him or if Lupin had assumed that my questions about Black were more than just the curiosity of a teenage girl.

"We received a letter from your grandmother this morning addressed to the school…"

How could my nan know about the school and where to send the letter? All mum had told her was that I was going to a boarding school in Scotland, but surely she didn't say the real name of the school.

"It appears that the large amount of snow that we received here also fell in Manchester a few days ago, and your mother was involved in a car accident late at night two days ago."

"What?" I taken back by Dumbledore's revelation. "What happened? Is she alright?"

McGonagall finally moved from her spot behind the Headmaster and made her way beside me. She gently put a hand on my shoulder and I looked rapidly between her and Dumbledore. The elder man let out a soft sigh and adjusted the glasses perched on his nose.

"Unfortunately, Liliana, your mother didn't survive the crash."

My body went numb as soon as I heard the words come out of Dumbledore's mouth. My hand that had previously been raised up to my face fell onto my lap and I could feel myself shaking. I expected the tears to flow right away, just as they had when I learnt about my dad, but I couldn't feel anything. I could hear Dumbledore apologizing for my loss and telling me that it was never easy to lose someone close, but I just kept staring blankly at the spot in front of me.

"Your grandmother and the rest of your family have arranged a funeral for tomorrow night that you have been given permission to go to. Professor McGonagall will accompany you via the Floo Network to King's Cross Station where your grandmother will be expecting you. You will be given three days in the Muggle world before you will meet up once again with McGonagall back at King's Cross to come back to school. If you wish to stay with your family for the remainder of the time until the Christmas break, we will allow that, but we need to kn-"

"No." I finally found my voice, cutting off the Headmaster but still not looking at him. "I will come back to Hogwarts."

"Are you sure, Miss Taylor?" McGonagall tightened her grip on my shoulder slightly and I just nodded my head in response.

"Very well. Professor McGonagall will accompany you, along with Professor Snape, to your Common Room where you can gather some of your belongings before coming back here and using the fireplace to go."

I nodded my head and stood up, following the two teachers out of the office and back towards the corridors of the castle. I barely registered what I was doing, just went through the motions of packing my things until I had everything I needed then left once more. I heard Snape uttering some words to McGonagall before he left us and walked the opposite direction of where we were going.

"Miss Taylor, I just want to say how terribly sorry I am for your loss." McGonagall offered her condolences quietly, walking by my side as we made out way back to Dumbledore's office. "I know it's very hard to lose a parent, and I wish there was something more I could do other than tell you that, I might not be your Head of House, but don't be afraid to speak to me if you wish to."

I nodded my head, not trusting that if I opened my mouth my tears wouldn't start and I knew they wouldn't stop once they finally started.

"If you change your mind about coming back, just send us an owl so we know not to expect you until the rest of the students come back from their holidays as well." Dumbledore told me and I nodded my head. He held out a bag of Floo Powder and I took a handful, waiting for McGonagall to go first before I stepped in after her and carefully announced King's Cross Station before throwing the powder down.

The Floo Network took us to a small office at King's Cross that McGonagall led us out of us towards the platform. I could see my nan in the distance and I could already tell how exhausted and sad she was. McGonagall walked with me part of the way towards my nan before bidding me goodbye and reminded me she would meet me back there in three days. I nodded my head once more and continued walking towards my nan, who had spotted me at this point and had already started to make her way over. I met her halfway and practically collapsed in her arms, my sobs racking my body and finally flowing out of me after being held in for nearly an hour.

"I know sweetheart, let it out." My nan hugged me tightly, her own voice trembling. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's not fair." I clutched my mum's mother tightly and cried freely into her shoulder.

"It's not. She was taken too early."

We stood there for a moment longer, just embracing and letting out the emotions we held inside until nan finally suggested that we go to the car so we could go to her place, where the rest of the family was. My sobs had subsided by that point, but silent tears continued to stream down my face the entire journey and never once wavered as each of my family members hugged me tightly. I was given a mug of tea at some point, I don't really know when, and was sat in one of the armchairs in the living room, surrounded by all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. I knew that each of them already had a couple of days of mourning behind them, but my pain was fresh, and it seemed to open up the wounds on everyone else. We all sat in silence for the longest time before my nan finally spoke up.

"Perhaps you want to change out of your uniform, Liliana." She placed a hand on my shoulder and helped me up when I numbly nodded my head. Once I had changed into more normal Muggle clothes, I rejoined my family. "The funeral is tomorrow afternoon at the church. You can stay here for as long as you want, love. I know your Headmaster mentioned that he had given you the option to stay here until your winter break is over after New Years, but I want to let you know that if you would rather go to school some place closer, you can do that."

I immediately shook my head. "No. Thank you, but I would like to go back to my school. I've decided that I'm going to go back to school on Wednesday like my Headmaster had originally offered." It was the first time I had spoken since I had entered the house.

"Are you sure, Ana?" My aunt, Mary, asked, leaning forward in her chair.

"Yes." I spoke more firmly than I had the first time. I didn't elaborate as to why I made that choice and it seemed like no one would push the topic for the rest of the day.

The morning of the funeral had me waking up earlier than necessary already in tears. I took a long shower to try and compose myself, dressing in a simple black dress that I had picked out from my wardrobe at Hogwarts to wear. I found my nan and my aunt Mary, along with her two children, already sat in the kitchen when I finally went down the stairs. Nan poured me a cup of tea right away and shared a look with my aunt before turning to me.

"Liliana, there's something we should tell you before we go to the funeral." My nan reached over and took my hand. "The car accident was a terrible one, and because of that, we decided to have your mother cremated. She was in terrible shape and we didn't want to have the last time we all looked at her to…"

"I understand." I didn't want to hear whatever my nan was going to say. "That's fine, I don't think I would have been able to see her anyways."

My nan nodded her head and squeezed my hand once more before letting go. The rest of the morning seemed like a blur as people were coming in and out of the house with the last-minute preparations or the funeral until it was finally time to go to the church. We were seated at the very front, right near a giant picture of my mother that showed her smiling, a picture that I remembered taking earlier that summer before I went to school. I barely heard anything the priest was saying as I thought about all of the happy memories the two of us had throughout my entire life. I thought about how it was always just the two of us, but that was all we ever needed. We went on countless holidays together, shared numerous happy times, and sad ones, but we had a bond that was stronger than anything I had ever known. Even when I was mad at her for hiding the information about my father for so long, I knew she did it to protect me because she didn't want me to spend my entire life trying to find the man who couldn't be found.

The reception was filled with people I hadn't seen for months, even years, coming up to me and telling me how sorry they were for my loss and I wanted nothing more than for the whole thing to be over with. I found myself carefully fiddling with my wand under the table as a way to comfort myself. Anytime someone would approach me, I would carefully tuck it back into my jacket, so it wouldn't be seen, and would take it out right after just so that I had something to do. Feeling the familiar hum of magic that flowed through the small wood object kept me at peace with everything that was happening around me.

At my request, my nan took me back to my house so I could collect the Christmas present my mum had already bought for me and anything of hers that I wanted to keep with me. She allowed me to go in alone and I took the time to memorize my surroundings, knowing it could be one of the last times I stepped foot into what had been my childhood home since it would be sold rather quickly once everything was moved out. I ventured into my room first, collecting a couple of jumpers that I had forgot to bring at the beginning of the year before moving into my mum's room. I was hesitant to go in at first, lingering by the door for a moment before finally stepping in. I moved to her dresser, looking at the pictures she had of us spread out across it and smiling fondly at the memories. I was about to move away until I noticed her jewelry box sitting in the middle of the dresser and couldn't help but open it. Sitting right on top was the bracelet she always worse, a simple silver chain with a small butterfly pendant on it. It was as soon as I held the bracelet in my hand that I broke down.

I fell to my knees and started sobbing loudly, crying out for the loss of the only parent I ever knew. Letting my emotions overtake me, I let out a loud scream, one that most likely could have been heard from outside, and I heard the sound of glass breaking somewhere in the room. I sobbed until there was nothing left and my throat was hoarse and I felt as though I was completely empty inside. I tried to compose myself as much as I could before getting up and clutching the bracelet in my hand tightly. I looked around the room and found that the source of the glass breaking had come from a row of pictures that were on the wall, the glass having shattered in what I figured was a burst of accidental magic that had come when I let my emotions take control of me. I quickly wiped away my tears and broom to sweep up the glass shards. I found the present my mother had bought for me in her closet, already wrapped in green and silver paper, something she had taken to doing ever since she learnt about my house colours. On my way out of the room, I stopped and picked up one of the pictures from the dresser, one of the two of us at my eleventh birthday, taken just hours after learning that I was a witch.

"Did you get everything you needed?" My nan asked me as I got back into her car. I nodded my head and she took us back to her house.

I didn't speak a single word to anyone once we got back to the house, just going straight up to the room I was staying in and spending the rest of the night there. I carefully put the bracelet on my own wrist and held the photo of the two of us tightly until I fell asleep.

True to her word, McGonagall met me at the King's Cross Station in the same spot she left me, allowing me to say goodbye to my nan before leading me back to the small office that would take us back to Hogwarts.

"Professor? Do my friends know what happened?" I asked her before we stepped into the fireplace.

"Miss Greengrass and Mister Malfoy were told, but that was it. If they told the rest of your housemates, that is something you will have to discuss with them."

I took a deep breath and grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, stepping into the fireplace before the Transfiguration teacher and sent myself back to Hogwarts.


End file.
